Shadow in the Force: an Empire at War
by Operkoi
Summary: It has been almost 20 years since the end of the Clone Wars and the rise of the Galactic Empire. While the embers of rebellion ignite a new force from far beyond the galaxy threatens to bring forth a war of untold cost. The Great Devourer approaches and it cares not for tyranny or freedom, merely for prey.
1. Prologue: Final Approach

**10000 years before the Battle of Yavin (BBY)**

 **Intergalactic space**

The massed armada of biological ships inched toward their final goal of the distant galaxy. Thousands of craft ranging from the swift and agile Yorik-et to massive organic planetoids plied along at sublight speed as they had for millenia. The Supreme Overlord upon the largest of the Koros-Strohna surveyed the fleets tensely. While still a mighty force the fleet was slowly shrinking. Entire battlegroups and the occasional disloyal Koros-Strohna had been consumed to maintain the most significant portions of the fleets. He had been forced to deal with many disputes within all castes with regards to managing their ever dwindling resources. He was not the first, nor would he be the last to deal with this issue and he once again considered the supply limits and how long it would be before another violent skirmish over honour or resources would weaken the fleet further. They were already a shadow of their former selves and at the rate of supply consumption they were currently experiencing there was doubt that even a tenth of the fleet would remain intact upon arrival at the target galaxy. While the Yuuzhan Vong had a powerful military force that had already destroyed their own galaxy the reduced force that would arrive at their destination could be threatened by a large, united militaristic empire, and the Overlord and his advisers all knew that. Thus it was vital to ensure as many vessels would arrive as possible to establish the foundation of a new empire for the Yuuzhan Vong. Already most of the fleet would be consumed to ensure the surviving armada would arrive and any effort to expand that force by even a single vessel could make the difference in a disasteorus first contact scenario.

"My Lord"

A quiet voice from a lowly scribe caught his attention. "We have received strange reports form most of the armada. They report significant gravitimetric distortions that have made the Dovin Basal's rather tempermental as a result".

The Overlord was stunned for a moment at the sheer incredulity of what he had just heard. Thinking he was being mocked he snarled as he rounded on the adviser and slammed a fist into the scarred face.

"GRAVIMETRIC? DO YOU TAKE ME FOR A FOOL?" The Overlord raged as the adviser collapsed with a startled yelp. The Overlord stayed silent as the whimpering shape slowly rose, a distinct discolouration slowly spreading. Seeing the effect of his fist on the imputant scribe calmed him somewhat.

"No your excellency." the scribe wheezed in a tired voice.

"We are in the middle of intergalactic space. We have been here for several millennia. And during all that time we have found absolutely nothing out here." The Overlord stated coldly. "So do pray tell, what nonsense do you try to feed me?

"Yes my lord I know it is strange but it is the only conclusion we have come to. I have the results of the analysis our best shapers have determined here" He presented a Yog-mal, the fist sized, featureless, red wormlike organism that held vast repositories of data and could upload or download them directly to the brain via the nervous system. Seeing the organism the Overlord stiffened. yog-mals were difficult bioforms to grow, rarely bred and typically used to contain vital information and documents of official nature. No one would waste a yog-mal on anything but sensitive and vital information or great importance or volume.

Without a word the Overlord snatch the Yog-mal and squeezed hard. the head blossomed into a flower of tendrils and rasping organs. Pressing the creatures open maw against the back of his neck he grunted as the beast cut into the skin and painfully wormed it's neural tendril into his spinal cord. Not that the pain was a problem for a member of such a masochistic race.

Suddenly his mind was filled with data as the knowledge was forced into his mind. The gravitimetric readings, Irregular Dovin Basal gravity well generation, and countless other details flashed through his mind and he took note of the information. As the conclusion was reported to the Overlords mind he mentally scowled at the overabundance of results indicated as unknown. Having transmitted the report the Yog-mal slowly extracted its nerves from the angry wound it had created. Pulling the creature from his neck the Overlord turned to the scribe.

"I don't like this it could be a phantom signal or some sort of ejected planetoid. Buy it could be a threat to us and if so I do not want our forces caught unprepared. Order all forces to enter a state of heightened alert but do not consume a single unnecessary shred of biomatter. We need as much as we can in order to reach the target at sufficient strength" The Overlord stated calmly and in a level manner. "Also tell the Shapers to get more information on this anomaly. Knowledge is power and we possess far to little in the face of whatever this anomaly represents."

The scribe bowed low and wordlessly departed, leaving the overlord to his thoughts. He assumed it was probably nothing dangerous, most likely a rogue planetoid, but if it was some sort of distant military force from their target it would be prudent to be prepared.

Little did the Last Supreme Overlord of the Yuuzhan Vong know that his vast armada had been sighted by another intergalactic menace. One far more alien and destructive then anything the race which had destroyed their own galaxy could ever imagine.

* * *

Thousands of light years away the aforementioned anomaly changed its course. Much like their as yet unidentified prey this species was entirely organic but that was where all similarities ended. While the Yuuzhan Vong were an individualistic race of billions that subjugated the beasts they used as substitutes for technology the coming menace was an amalgamation of trillions of thoughts into a single consciousness. A hive mind spread across tens of thousands of massive void faring organisms. Within the hive mind was both basal animal instinct that could not be ignored as well as a strategic genius that could process information more quickly and effectively then any single mind it had yet encountered. Having detected the distant force the Hive's more intelligent minds had been somewhat alarmed. It had devoured trillions of lifeforms but very few had the capacity to perform intergalactic travel like the Mind's thousands of "appendages" and it could represent a race capable of defeating the swarm.

The sensory apparatus of what would later be deemed a Narvhal had indicated that the target was moving very slowly and while it was nearing the Halo stars of the nearest galaxy it was still thousands of years away from the destination at their indicated speed. The Hives more basal instincts were always dully screaming in the background for food and this certainly could be food, albeit it was unlikely to be a substantial amount of nourishment and it would be more efficient to ignore this target and resume course. The more tactical elements of the Mind had determined that the species could be a menace and possibly even know about the upcoming swarm but it was most likely in some sort of suspended animation based on the very slow velocity that allowed the Narvhal to lock onto the gravity well to begin with. The Hive Mind weighed the pros and cons. It was a risk to attack: the prey could cause significant damage if they prepared but the potential reward of a small meal that might be caught unaware and, most significantly, the removal of a potential future threat justified the expenditure to the hive. The hive had rapidly reached consensus. The prey would be consumed.

With a psionic signal from the Hive the Narvhal spread its sensory web of neural spines and began channelling energy through the delicate filaments. Light seemed to bend in front of the fleet as tens of thousands of ships were ripped from realspace and into the gravity corridor that had formed. With the lack of other significant gravity wells in intergalactic space the massed fleet sped rapidly towards ignorant prey. Within the vessels the hive had begun to awaken the Norn Queens of the fleet from their hibernation. Housed deep within the largest Hiveships the biomass shaping organisms began directing the fleet to ready a full invasion force. Bioforms suited for primarily boarding actions were prepared. Six limbed humanoids with massive claws, a nigh uncountable horde of armoured, toothy maggotlike forms, hulking beasts coated with thick bio alloys of superdense metal reinforced chitin with massive claws and biological weapons. All forming within the amniotic cocoons of every major vessel.

Months into the journey the total fleet held millions of grown organisms is stasis, awaiting contact with the prey.

 **9 Years later**

The Hive Fleet materialized en mass and slowly awoke from the state of torpor it had entered while in transit. Sensory organs detected a massive fleet including 6 massive vessels the size of small astral bodies. But the most surprising observation was the composition of the prey. Everything from advanced optical senses spreading several visual spectrums to the warp imprints detected by the mind indicated that the enemy was almost entirely organic.

This changed everything. Right before the fleet stood the largest potential feast the mind had witnessed in millenia. The fleet could lose it's entire current force and still recreate a far larger fleet from the remains of the feast laid out before the Hive Mind. Below the surface of the colossal planetoid organisms numerous shiplike organisms took flight. Unlike the Hive Fleet vessels, which resembled heavily plate armoured cephalopods, rays, or sharks the prey vessels were sleek forms uniformly coated in a wrinkled coral like shell and vaguely resembled the skin of large aquatic mammals, albeit lacking heads or other visibly delicate sersory organs. Unlike the home base of these prey the ships were quite undersized with the largest prey vessel of comparable size to the hive fleets rough approximation of an escort leader or light cruiser.

But it also meant that the fleet was unprepared for the terrestrial combat that might be necessary on the strange planetoids. In anticipation of combating primarily inorganic ships the veritable tides of expendable smaller beasts had been largely neglected beyond the paltry number used in boarding actions. To make matters worse the most formidable of the terrestrial artillery and linebreaker bioforms had not been produced in acceptable quantities for standard engagements. Even the synapse forces consisted mainly of relatively vulnerable heavy infantry compared to the gargantuan armoured warp sensitive nodes primarily used to coordinate surface actions. It would take a few days to prepare the most rudimentary of the necessary bioforms. With the new information the hive broadcast revised orders to the fleet.

The plan was simple. Close all forces into close range of the planetoid sized organisms. and establish landing zones to be converted for potential generation of combat bioforms using the planetoids as resources. The remaining vessels would engage the enemy fleets until one side had void superiority. Even if the void bioforms were destroyed they would have bought enough time for the terrestrial forces to establish and consume the massive organic planets and produce an even larger fleet. To facilitate this plan even faster it was necessary to get the Norn Queens right to the planetoids to rapidly produce the necessary combat forms.

The previously sluggish hive fleet burst into motion. The massive Hive ships and their escorts speeding at a slight angle to the fleet to allow for massed ranged bombardment before surprising the foe by abruptly turning to smash through their sizeable yet under-gunned fleet.

As the massed fleets closed the coral shelled Yuuzhan Vong unleashed a massed wave of small organic forms similar to locusts. The Grunchen, locustlike creatures a meter in size to be flung at opposing ships in huge swarms to latch on and devour their prey. The Grunchen cloud closed closer and closer to the mysterious invaders.

Only for every last one to be destroyed well before making contact with the strange ships.

Unlit by any solar or artificial lights the ravenous organisms had collided headlong into the ablative and mycetic spores and circling gargoyles that protected the larger bioships and envelop smaller vessels when in the dense attack formation the hive preferred. The Grutchen were shredded en masse as they collided with trillions of biological mines and small mobile bioforms that made up the hive fleets shield and point defence.

Within the unscratched Hive Fleet the Hive calculated the losses. 67% reduction in ablative spores within the spearhead, following vessels suffering between 10-56% ablative spores removed, Total replenishment costs: 167 352 tons of biomass and 8 hours assuming standard combat attrition.

Negligible losses.

The enemy fleet seemed to react sluggishly to reposition as the first wave of bio plasma struck the enemy fleet. To the hive minds surprise the entire volley was seemingly negated before impact. A sensory burst from a Narvhal indicated some sort of gravity singularity generated form each ship, with massive ones formed from the planetoids, drawing in and nullifying the volley. This perplexed the Mind. It had encountered gravity based weapons and defenses in the past but none as effective as this. While unexpected the hive was not overly perturbed. The front line of the naval force was moments away from making contact with the enemy fleet. Close quarters was where the Hives vessels were were most effective. Amongst the enemy fleet the risk of friendly fire would severely cut down on enemy ordinance, which the hive could easily direct through the synapse network. And this was in addition to the bioships formidable claws, tendrils, and jaws. Seldom was the foe seized by a bioship to survive, and never without aid from the rest of their fleet. One minor change made was the complete abandonment of boarding spores. The enemy's mysterious gravity shields had been unaffected by bio plasma and it was reasonable to assume that it would affect other projectile weapons in a similar manner. Throughout the combat fleet the prepared boarding organisms were hastily moved to massive ovipositors to commence boarding actions. Though few would be ready immediately the outer picket of smaller vessels were poor boarding targets anyway. The hive knew the boarding forces would shine most on major threats such as the planetoids or the well protected larger, albeit still small vessels that seemed to serve as capital ships.

* * *

Admiral Krenn looked upon the approaching fleet from the bridge of the Miid'or'ik (Capital vessel) _Gaze of Contempt_ with a notable level on anxiety. This mysterious fleet may have had nothing in the size range of the Khoros Stronha such as the _Despoiler of Worlds_ he called home but with those 6 exceptions the enemy fleet dwarfed everything else the force and most of their vessels were of a similar size to Kor Chokk Battleships that were not to be present in the fleet prior to imminent galactic arrival due to their extreme biomass demands. Sensors had indicated that the smallest of these ships were the same size as his flagship. In desperation Krenn had ordered all Grunchen deployed immediately hoping to cripple and distract the enemy fleet before firing range was achieved. The entire swarm had been destroyed by clouds of unknown biomatter and had not even fully depleted the enemy vessels strange shield analogue. Upon seeing this Krenn ordered all Yorik-et to be put on standby but not launched, hoping to disable the mysterious shields before losing more valuable interceptors or strike craft.

To his amazement the fleet opened fire at a range of several hundred thousand kilometres. It seemed foolhardy to fire anything at such an extreme range as a hit would be astronomically unlikely, until he counted the number and power of each projectile on the sensory. Millions of plasma projectiles akin to grossly oversized and overheated volcano cannons each carrying enough firepower to cripple or destroy a vessel were streaking towards the fleet at near relativistic speed. With that amount and strength of shot even a 1% hit rate would cause severe damage to the enemy lines.

"Dovin basals, full spread. Catch all of those projectiles." Krenn ordered. he was rewarded with a chorus or affirmatives and severe gravitic distortions forming singularities around the fleet. He waited anxiously as the projectiles approached the singularities and fought not to sigh in relief as every single projectile had been caught in the gravity field and neutralized. The enemies firepower was seemingly no match for the dovin basals. Seemingly noticing this the unknown fleet made a hard change in it's direction. Instead of remaining at their obscene weapons range it appeared to split into several smaller battlegroups and one significant force. All of these forces were flying head on to the fleet at speeds approaching 50% of light speed. Though shocked at the obscene speed Krenn grinned. If this opponent knew anything about the Yuuzhan Vong they would have used that speed to keep well away and hope to penetrate the Dovin Basals with sustained fire. The Yuuzhan Vong were experts at mid and close quarters ship fighting with their array of powerful magma cannons and other more exotic anti ship weapons. These enemy vessels may have been huge but they should be powerless against the myriad of weapon organisms which thrived in close combat. He signalled the armsman. "Get the Qworlth skaal ready. The enemy fancies a knifefight with our fleet. Let's show them their folly."

The armsman grinned. "Ohh she'll be eating good tonight"

Krenn nodded "Indeed". Turning to other bridge crews he barked out more orders. "Keep those dovin basals active. I don't want to be blindsided by another volley. Once the ships themselves are in range commence full bombardment with everything we have. Yorik-et are to be readied but not, I repeat NOT to be deployed without my authorisation."

It was a tense wait of a few minutes before the enemy vessels hit the outer perimeter of the dovin basal field, with no following volleys of plasma. Immediately several vessels focused their dovin basals into massive forces of gravity. Visually Krenn saw several of the smaller ships of a similar size to his own ship distort form the extreme forces, cracking and twisting their thick armoured plates apart to expose support spars eerily similar to bone and a torrent of biological fluids that flash froze in the void. A few others were hit by a full broadside of volcano cannons and while some survived with their armoured plates glowing a bright orange a small number had indeed been crippled as weaknesses from the dovin basals created weak points in their armour. Furthermore almost the entire remaining contingent of ablative biomatter had been stripped, leaving the enemy ships vulnerable

His fascination with the destruction of the enemy picket vessels was interrupted by a comms officer "Sir, The _Despoiler of Worlds_ Is reporting that the larger vessels will be difficult to damage with the basals as is but that they are going to commence pulling them down to the surface. If they somehow survive impact the surface forces will dismantle them."

Krenn nodded. It seemed a reasonable strategy. "Grab as many larger vessels and pull them down to the surface. I think we can handle anything you miss. But we are tight on ships and going to need every ship we can get. If you can't grab it without grabbing our own vessels leave it for us."

Suddenly the largest enemy ships, reaching around 12 km in length as well as several of their escorts all began veering towards the Koros Stronha, caught in the gravity tethers and slowly pulled towards the waiting behemoths. While somewhat surprised that the vessels made no overt evasion attempts Krenn chalked it up the the massive vessels lacking manoeuvrability.

Drawing his attention to the significant threats remaining the fleet prepared for close quarters combat.

Krenn watched as several enemy vessels not snared by the Koros Stronhas veered immediately on intercept headings with his own fleet. "Launch Yorik-et now. Target the vessels that have already been hit by the dovin basal singularities, their shields should be down."

Suddenly the comms officer raised an alarm. "Sir the enemy fleets too close to out own to use the dovin basals any further. With how resilient those things are we'll take more losses then they will."

As if to punctuate the point another crewman shouted a warning "BRACE"

The _Gaze of Contempt_ Shuddered violently as an enemy ship twice its size grazed the vessel as it rushed for another vessel. The sensory showed it's armoured prow open into a set of titanic jaws that seized a ro'ik chuun m'arh frigate. Despite being hammered from all sides with volcano cannons it payed no heed as it appeared to crush the comparatively tiny vessel effortlessly.

The comms stations started to suddenly break down into a mess of reports. Several vessels had been seized by the mysterious vessels and those that were not immediately destroyed were reporting terrifying organisms of seemingly unnatural ability and coordination commencing brutal boarding actions. Another sensorum showed a Qworlth Skaarl crawl from the belly of its beleaguered ship to strike at the massive enemy ship that had grasped it with several armoured tendrils but being unable to burrow through the thick armoured plates before being struck by a strange round projectile that stuck fast and dragged the struggling beast into yet another titanic maw.. Yorik-et strafed enemy vessels with no visible effect only to be struck down by strange batlike forms that had exited the vessels en mass once the microsingularities had been cleared or shredded by heavy point defence fire.

Krenn immediately realised his mistake. These foes were even more capable in close quarters then in ranged combat. He shuddered at the realisation that his fleet was going to suffer such heavy casualties

Then all of a sudden several enemy ships suddenly opened fire with their plasma weapons. This devastated the remaining fleet and the few elements not crippled or destroyed were now being overpowered in, for lack of a better descriptor, melee combat with much of the enemy fleet. To make matters worse somehow not a single shot from the invaders had impacted their own fleets. It was as if the enemy commander was in direct control of each vessel and could pinpoint every detail.

Realising the hopeless situation Krenn contacted the _Despoiler of Worlds_ with a heavy heart. "Use the dovin basals on everything you can. don't worry about friendly fire, were dead anyway. Rip them to shreds before they have a chance to fire on you. For the Glory of the Coming Empire!"

There was no reply but the _Gaze of Contempt_ , along with the entire remaining Yuuzhan Vong fleet and the entangled vessels were suddenly either ripped to the surface of the worldships either somewhat intact or in several pieces. Krenn's last thoughts were of how close this victory would be for the Yuuzhan Vong.

Unknown to Krenn the controlling intelligence of his opponents was consumed not with hopelessness at the seeming loss of so many vessels but satisfaction that the kill was at hand. there were a few remaining invader vessels in orbit seemingly keeping their distance from the worldships yet nonetheless firing what they could at the surface. From the wreckage of the downed attacking fleets trillions of wormlike organisms in a veritable tide, devouring the surface of the Koros Stronha. Following them was a veritable parade of monsters eerily similar to their spaceborne carriers. Pale milky skin heavily encased in thick bony plates augmented by metals and minerals to be as strong as standard construction materials. Each bristling with scythelike claws or protruding weapon organisms. These organisms joined with a handful of organisms dropped by the remaining orbital force to secure the landing zones and provide a token resistance before the fleet generated the rest of its army

A number Yuuzhan Vong soldiers and large vehicle analogues were sent to secure the wreckage upon the surface.

None returned. soldiers ran out of ammo as veritable tides of chitin engulfed entire divisions. Massive fire breather super heavies were bombarded by plasma or ripped to shreds by colossal armoured beasts that seemed to utterly ignore their potent flames. Had there been a sun to provide light it would have been blotted out by the starfighter variant of the invaders who now deployed their ordinance against any who sought to advance into the landing zones.

Within days the invaders had burrowed into the heart of the Koros Stronha. the massive living planetoids mental and physical screams of agony were heard by the last of the Yuuzhan Vong as they were devoured alive by the mysterious force. In desperation three Koros Stronha were ripped to shreds by the remaining vessels in an effort to halt the invaders but before more could be destroyed the massive organisms fell silent, dead. Soon they were followed by the last of their masters leaving the spoils of the battle to the invaders.

Within weeks the remaining intact worldships had been largely reduced to a massive amalgamation of semi digested flesh that the intact fleet vessels fed upon. The Norn queens actually departed the grounded ships to more intimately alter the biomass for the coming fleet. As the fleet fed and the Norn queens worked they birthed new vessels. A small pathfinder fleet had departed at this stage to lay the groundwork for future invasions in the coming hunting grounds.

Within a year the remaining intact worldships had been fully devoured and used as the raw materials for a new fleet orders of magnitude larger then the initial fleet. Less then a month later there was no trace whatsoever of a battle in this section of space as every last derelict on both sides was devoured and re-purposed.

The Yuuzhan Vong had been erased from history.

With its new armada the Great Devourer resumed its course towards a modest sized galaxy far far away.


	2. Chapter 1: Misdirection

**Note: for the sake of this story the way I'm relating the force to the warp is as follows: midi chlorians (yeah yeah I'm using those) are warp sensitive bacteria and draw upon the immaterium at the behest of force sensitive individuals that they have made their hosts. This allows for what in 40k would be considered basic psychic power usage. (telekinesis, eldritch lightning, etc...). However, as the midi-chlorians act as the intermediaries the force users are all but immune to the downsides of 40k psykers as most of the more severe threats to a warp sensitive are heaped onto the midi chlorians instead of the force user. Fatigue from force power usage comes from midi chlorians dying due to phenomena and survivors using the hosts energy reserves to reproduce and restore population levels. However, Midi chlorians, and by extension force users are unable to utilize the more exotic or powerful warp powers (i.e. daemon summoning, god specific powers, high level mind control etc...) and require additional training and skill for their level compared to a 40k psyker.**

* * *

 **920 years BBY, Unknown Regions border, Ulgu**

Ulgu was a remote planet on the border of the Unknown Regions. The small yet densely populated arid planet a relatively significant source of rare minerals for manufacturing firms located throughout the known galaxy. As such it was heavily contested and divided into claims by several industrial firms. While officially at peace it was one of the most dangerous areas to work in as the various mining firms were not above using force to "persuade" their competitors to surrender claim sections or destabilise the large population of miners to turn on their employers. The perpetual smog of pollution from the refineries only added to the bleak atmosphere.

It was in one of these Slums that Darth Anguis, Master of the Sith, found himself. The Sulusstan sat crouched and shrouded in a dark corner of the assigned meeting place. He always sought to make the most of his natural biology and force talents, always choosing whenever possible to meet in dimly lit areas with considerable noise where his naturally keen eyesight and hearing would give him an edge. Thus he squatted in a ready position in the third darkest corner, knowing that the darkest ones would fall under the most suspicion. his fine mahogany and white dress uniform currently shrouded by a long tattered black cloak with a loose hood hanging down, though not enough to obscure his large, dark eyes and distinct jowls.

His apprentice had come into contact with a mysterious benefactor who promised to tilt support from the planet via the local populace to his own corporate shell, which had modest holdings on the planet and would make for a fine resource base to bolster the corporate holdings of the Sith Lord. His ambition was to propel his holdings to create a substantial and long-lasting contract between the Neimoidian Trade Federation and Hoersch-Kessel Drives to cement the services of the up and coming shipwrights to the Higher cause of the Sith in the coming centuries. If his apprentice's contact proved to be as valuable as he had heard he would gain tremendous negotiation power through his company.

His thoughts were distracted by a muffled series of footsteps. Though quiet and near unnoticeable to most the Sulusstan's keen hearing quickly distinguished the approach of his apprentice. As the apprentice approached Anguis smirked to himself. Even without such a telegraphed physical approach the peculiar sensation in the force the apprentice harboured had been felt.

 _Time for a lesson, Little brat._

As the tall figure rounded the corner, clad in a basic mining rig, faded orange fatigues and a large white protective torso carapace with a hosed gas mask clipped to the chest. The figure wore no helmet, revealing a bald head but his face obscured by a dust mask and eye protecting goggles.

Darth Mairo, apprentice of the Sith, eyed several of the dark shadows carefully, expecting some sort of trap. He carefully scrutinised several before letting his guard down.

He had not seen his master.

For a tense minute the he waited. His fear becoming distinctly apparent to Anguis, frantically trying to scrutinize every shadow while externally appearing calm.

Then the master made his move.

Using the force Anguis barrelled toward his apprentice at an extreme low height. His body colliding heavily with the back of Mairo's knees and bowling him over. Without missing a beat, the apprentice completed his flip and threw a force push towards the attacker, staggering him slightly but otherwise leaving no affect. Urgently he reached for his lightsaber...

Only to find naught but air where he usually kept it.

"Looking for this" Anguis taunted, holding the apprentice's sabre before him.

In a rage Mairo attempted to pull the wall behind Anguis down on him but yet again it was easily blocked, Anguis simply countering his pull with a push, leaving the wall cracked but standing. Then Mairo felt a massive impact on his chest, albeit mitigated by the harness he wore, that sent him flying into the opposite wall. The impact caused his head to whip back and temporarily disorient him causing him to fall to his knees. Regaining his bearings Mairo suddenly noticed that Anguis stood before him, eye to eye with the half kneeling Mairo.

"How many times must I tell you. Sharpen your instincts. You are a decent combatant in a standard fight, but it means naught if you get caught out like a drunken fool and take the first blow."

At this Anguis ignited his apprentices' lightsabre and pressed the blade lightly against his shoulder. it instantly bit through the tattered cloth and began to sear the muscles on his shoulder.

"AAAUUUUGGGGGHHHH" Mairo screamed as the faint smell of burnt flesh trickled into the air.

After what seemed like an eternity Mairo was released, collapsing before his master.

"Pathe..." Anguis never finished the insult as he suddenly noticed Mairo holding a crude blaster pistol in his uninjured hand and pointed directly at his gut.

Quick as a flash Mairo fired. Anguis immediately activated his own saber to deflect the shot, whirling as he cut the blaster in half and had Mairo's head in the centre of a V formed by the 2 lightsabers.

Mairo froze. This was it. He was out of tricks.

"Hmmmm, a blaster? interesting choice. While inelegant it is rather creative and pragmatic solution, though you shouldn't have taken so long to draw and fire. That being said, there's still hope for you yet my apprentice"

Mairo exhaled in relief, only to recoil in pain as Anguis kicked him hard in the gut, nearly causing him to double over into the lightsabers, staying upright only from sheer willpower.

"Though for losing your saber so easily, perhaps you do not want or desire it."

Anguis deactivated his apprentice's lightsaber, the result of months of painstaking labour before throwing it into the air and slicing the hilt in half with his own blade. Using the force, he pulled the khyber crystals to him and stowed them within his robes alongside his own intact saber.

Mairo will no doubt be fuming Anguis thought as he noted the tightening of his apprentice's face. He had always been good at masking his emotions visibly but the loss of months of hard work would no doubt sting. No matter, his anger will grow, thus his power shall as well. Besides if he were truly a prudent student he would have an extra one tucked away somewhere. Anguis personally believed that the Sith should always have contingencies and backup plans. With so many Jedi out there, who would mobilise instantly if dark side users were detected subterfuge, manipulation, and plots were far more important than pure combat mastery

Finished with the impromptu lesson Anguis pressed on to the original reason for the meeting. "Have you made contact with this potential benefactor?"

Mairo bowed low. "Indeed master. He is most interested in your proposal and proclaims that he wishes to further the trust by meeting with you personally. He claims he is willing to allow you to select a meeting place and time of your choosing.

Anguis' brow narrowed. He had done plenty of business with this benefactor and in each event he had wound up furthering his agendas quite substantially. But he had never met them, performing most of his negotiations through Mairo or other third parties. It was also somewhat suspicious that he was given full control of the meeting place, knowing how easy it would be to make a trap. he decided to push for every ounce of influence he could.

"Inform him we will be meeting in The Dusty Crater establishment, VIP suite number to be provided once he arrives at the establishment. Code phrase "a dreary little bar" in 8 standard hours."

Wordlessly Mairo bowed and activated his communicator to relay the message. Anguis picked up his own portable computer from a hidden compartment in the alley and made the necessary arrangements at The Dusty Crater. It helped that it was owned by one of his shell companies. As Anguis finished the preparations Mairo turned to him.

"It is done master. He has fully agreed."

Anguis nodded, slightly surprised that he had fully agreed so quickly "Excellent, let's not leave our guest waiting."

* * *

8 Hours Later

Seated in the posh but dimly lit VIP Suite Anguis waited. His contact was expected at any time escorted by Mairo. Now shed of his black cloak he would have struck an imposing figure if not for his short height. His dress uniform was immaculate and worn perfectly. A few large rings on his fingers symbolising his wealth and etiquette without being overly gaudy. Upon the table lay a potent brew of wine from Naboo: expensive, tasty, and very intoxicating. Or at least it was intoxicating to non Sullustans. And if the other party was somewhat more suggestible after a few sips then it just meant another binding deal had been cemented.

The curtains draping the door were suddenly pulled aside by a pair of protocol droids, allowing 2 figures to walk into the room. The taller one was Mairo, now wearing simple brown robes. His clean-shaven chin and tight grimace now visible albeit he still wore dark eye protectors that obscured his upper face. Anguis nodded slightly to his apprentice before turning to the benefactor.

While not as tall as Mairo he was still of a substantial height. He wore a long, trailing magenta cloak with a small metal chest piece that had a pair of long blue streamers flanked with copper coloured metal trail down to his ankles. His bald head sat within a large, ornate and stiffly opened hood that would not have looked out of place on a Naboo Queen. Within the hood was a face that would have been handsome in youth but was clearly aged and experienced. His bald head seemed to reflect what little light shone onto it. In his right hand he carried a thin copper walking stick that was quite simple aside from the carving of some sort of serpent at the top of the cane

But what grabbed Anguis' attention was the sensation in the force the man gave off. It was near identical to Mairos. The same feeling of latent power. _I wonder how the Jedi missed this one he thought_. He also seemed to have extensive mental discipline as he could only get fleeting sensations of emotion from him.

As he pondered this the figure bowed low and allowed one of the protocol droids to introduce him.

"Greetings Pregat Marook. It is my pleasure to present Imrik Oslan. Head of the Shrouded Union of Labourers.

Oslan raised his head and dismissed the protocol droids with a wave. Turning to Anguis he spoke in a strangely charismatic and disarming voice.

"Obnoxious suck ups aren't they. But they do make life so much easier, particularly when you don't know the neighbourhood well. but where are my manners? We have business to attend to."

Anguis nodded and let out a small chuckle "Finally I meet someone who isn't obfuscated by etiquette." Inwardly he was annoyed. This man was clearly a very skilled negotiator and had seemingly read his mind for that quip about the protocol droids, though he had not detected the use of the force. This would take some effort. He poured a glass of wine and held it out to Oslan, who accepted it with a grin and took a large sip. His nerves somewhat calmed Anguis poured his own. as he did so Oslan started.

"Now then. I understand you wish to acquire the services of the Union to improve your holdings on Ulgu. I am afraid I'm going to need more information then that, though no doubt you already knew that."

"Indeed Mr. Oslan. I'm currently in the process of deep negotiations for a massive shipbuilding contract between the Trade Federation and Hoersch-Kessel. Long story short is the Federation wants to modernise their bulk cargo fleets and are most interested in a design by Hoersch-Kessel. But their standard suppliers are otherwise tangled up in a mountain of red tape that prevents export of the quantity or quality of raw materials the shipwrights can use. I currently own a relatively small collection of holdings on the planet and, if I can expand my operations I would be able to meet those requirements. I have plans in place to get more material and machines. all I need is the labour, which is where you come in. I'd be most appreciative if my shells were, shall we say given a good reputation, amongst the workers.

Oslan grinned appreciably, taking another sip. "Ah. I see what you're getting at. It's a pretty decent business move but again: What is in this for me or my labourers? They are effectively my family and I am most unwilling to advise them to endure hardships without substantial evidence that it is for a worthy cause."

Anguis grinned right back. "I won't lie to you I don't have much to offer the labourers at first. But once we pull this initial contract off my holdings will become the primary suppliers for a soon to be rising star in ship construction. The credits will be flowing in. And furthermore, I'll have a small degree of corporate clout with those damn stingy Neimoidians."

At this Oslan openly laughed. "While I understand the intent, I doubt any of your as of yet unconfirmed clout will make any difference in the Neimoidian owned companies."

"True, but I will offer better pay and incentives once the deal is cemented and even if those other damned owners want to do something about it the Federation won't stand for it due to my relationship with Hoersch-Kessel and how important this deal is or them."

Oslan seemed taken with this deal as he nodded appreciatively. "If it is as you say then this truly is a good deal."

As Anguis prepared to extend his hand to agree his foresight screamed danger at him.

"It's a pity your ilk always sees the family as the blunt instrument of your machinations and our family will not allow it."

Suddenly several miners dressed similarly to Mairos labour attire burst through he door armed with blasters and crude melee weapons. Anguis didn't even hesitate to force pull the lot of them across the room, through the wall, and off the floor to their deaths. Realizing he was detected Anguis sneered. "You have no idea who you have just crossed you deluded fool" as he activated his lightsaber and nodded to Mairo as the apprentice moved behind Oslan.

"Oh, but I do, force user. The real question is, do you?" Oslan sneered as he raised his cane towards Anguis.

Suddenly a surge of lightning streaked from the cane towards Anguis, who was shocked by the manifestation of a force power near exclusive to the Sith and failed to fully block it. Mairo stood, watching his master with apathy. Suddenly Anguis threw off the lightning then barrelled towards Oslan with his lightsaber ignited. Oslan reacted by leaping back and using the force to throw the remnants of the door towards the charging Sith. While the saber cut partway through the metal and deflected it from Anguis the force of the impact coupled with the density of the door ripped the saber from Anguis' hands. Using the force, he deactivated, retrieved, then reactivated his lightsaber before he was hit by a strange force, paralysing him. He felt Oslans voice in his mind, powerfully yet calmly ordering him to stand down and follow. Anguis nodded and dimly realized he had deactivated his saber and was now in a relaxed pose.

Oslan then shouted to the tide of miners to stand down, though he himself sounded very taxed from what he had just done. Mairo was nowhere to be seen, though the pile of bodies he had created was apparent.

"We will be meeting with the Patriarch and introducing a new member to the family."

At this Anguis roughly snapped out of his torpor and rushed Oslan. How could some nobody that while peculiar was not particularly powerful with the force, manage to trap a Sith Master with a mind trick, even temporarily? Oslan showed brief shock a moment before his head was cleft in two. As Oslan died the miners all seemed to grasp their skulls as if assaulted by a migraine. _Were they all being mind tricked?_ Anguis thought. Nonetheless gave them no quarter, hacking them down. Wordlessly he pulled his black cloak over his body and went down to the main level. It was there he found Mairo dispatching another group of fanatics with a saber though his form seemed off. _So, you did have a contingency. Excellent_ The Master thought.

Turning to see his master Mairo knelt. "Master I found a hidden tunnel in the kitchens. Most of these miners came up through there."

Anguis looked to the indicated doorway. at the other end of the room was a large tunnel seemingly hidden previously by a now upturned shelving unit.

"Excellent. though keep in mind that leaving me to such rabble was a poor execution attempt"

"I still have much to learn Master"

"it shows boy. Your form was off with the saber. You did better in our little bout earlier today"

Mairo remained silent as Anguis stalked though the tunnel. It was quite well hidden and Anguis was surprised it had been found so quickly. It appeared Mairo had become more attentive from his training. It seemed to lead on for several meters before opening into a chamber with more miners. Anguis rushed in, saber ignited with Mairo close behind. As the miners fell Anguis noted Mairo freeze as he stared at a youngling, most likely not even 7 years old yet. She was dressed in loose rags and crying in a corner, her face hidden under an unkempt mat of filthy blonde hair. Mairo made to walk past her when she suddenly ran towards him. Seeing Mairo's expression soften Anguis stepped in front of him as the crying girl ran towards him. _Seems you still harbour weak sentiments boy_. The master thought as he prepared to quash this root of weakness. Anguis threw a weak force push at the approaching girl, causing her to stumble, but nonetheless she still approached the Sith.

"A-are you here to br-br-bring me home?" She asked.

"No" Anguis stated bluntly as he readied his lightsaber and approached her. No one could know of the Siths existence. He felt a buildup of emotions from Mairo behind him but no action. Anguis now stood barely 10 feet from the child and was still approaching. The girl suddenly pulled herself to her feet and charged straight at Anguis.

"FOR THE FAMILY" She yelled before Anguis roughly shoved her back with a powerful force push. Her body landed, skidded for several feet, then was stopped by the far wall. The child was outright screaming in pain now. Before either of the Sith lords could react the girl was abruptly silenced as a massive explosion occurred where her body rested. The shockwave knocked both Sith off their feet and brought several tonnes of the ceiling down on the Sith lords. Both used the force to catch and force back the rock, but Mairo was unlucky as his left hand was crushed by falling rock. he screamed in pain as he freed himself. But his hand was a mangled mess, likely needing a prosthetic to restore function. Anguis looked to his apprentice and was satisfied that despite his injury he could hold himself upright and the screaming subsided.

"What...Was...That?" Mairo hissed through clenched teeth. His right hand still clutching his useless wrist like a vice.

"That girl probably had a bunch of thermal detonators or demolition charges under her clothing. I must admit it's a very sensible tactic, particularly against soft, weak willed idealists. Had she been deployed against Jedi I have no doubt at least one would have died. A pity for them the Sith are not so easily fooled." Anguis stated evenly.

Mairo did not reply but he did aid his master in removing rubble from the pathway at the end of the passageway. As they journeyed further the lighting torches became increasingly sparse, casting long shadows across the passageway. After several minutes of waking they reached a large dark chamber filled with an assortment of refuse, bones, and mysterious secretions forming puddles and webs. The high ceiling was held up by intermittent columns. At the centre of the room a strange lifeform rested upon a pile of the refuse as if it were a throne.

Anguis' first reaction was Rancor. It seemed to have the same large size and massive three fingered hands with half meter claws. Upon further investigation it became apparent it was something else entirely. While large it was not quite as big as a rancor, standing around 5 meters tall. It was also far more lightly built with long, thin, but muscular appendages. Its head had a massively bulged cranium reminiscent of an Acklay head crest but with a filled-out skull beneath the long crest. Beneath the massive clawed arms, a second pair of arms emerged ending in 5 digited humanoid hands. along its back was a series of exoskeletal plates and a large ridge of spines running down the centre of the beasts back. A seemingly short tail emerged ending in a large bladelike growth of bone.

The creatures head suddenly turned towards the Sith. It growled low as it limberly dismounted its throne and stalked towards the intruders. As it did so Anguis felt it's presence in the force as its proximity caused its force shroud to partially fail.

It made him feel fear for the first time since he had been a youngling apprenticed to his old master.

This beast somehow had as much, if not more, raw force potential then any being he had yet encountered though it was hidden very well. Furthermore, the connection to the force the beast had felt unusual. If forced to choose a word he would have selected Pure as the best description. Anguis could feel the force stretching out in all directions, converging on the beast like a giant spiderweb.

As it approaches the Sith noticed strange alien lifeforms climbed down the pillars. They resembled the larger beast but were far smaller, approximately the size of a standard humanoid and lacked the bulbous cranium and had far less exoskeletal plating. With a loud hiss several of the smaller beasts crouched and leapt from their vantage points of the columns towards Anguis.

While surprised by their speed Anguis had skilfully thrown his saber in an arcing flight that cut most of the jumping smaller beasts in two. while some landed and tried weakly pulling themselves towards Anguis most died before they hit the ground.

Suddenly Anguis' sensed danger from his apprentice. Turning he locked blades with Mairo as the apprentice wildly slashed at his master. With blades locked and the larger beast approaching Anguis fumed

"Really? right now Mairo?" He sputtered indignantly.

"Yes now. I refuse to allow you to use my family as an expense for your machinations. We have been on this planet for centuries and your actions will not force us away. Now die interloper. Die and become meat for the Patriarch"

Anguis was at a loss. His apprentice had been a part of this messed up organisation? How? he never let they boy out of his sight until he had spent over a decade moulding him. Then he remembered how Oslan had briefly subdued him with a powerful mind trick. Perhaps this beast had an even stronger version or Oslan had cemented his control over Mairo during their prior meetings. Noting the now identified Patriarch seemed to focus heavily on Mairo he suspected the former but could not confirm.

 _You clever fiends_ Anguis thought as he parried several of Mairo's attacks before using the force to cause the now identified patriarch to veer off it's intended attack vector.

The Patriarch seemed to have decided it could not win against 2 Sith even with the help of its smaller brood, so it put a large amount of it's focus into turning the weaker Sith on his master

Anguis' thoughts were racing. He was wholly at a disadvantage here. The Patriarch would be a formidable opponent even without the aid of it's spawn and mind-controlled masses. Furthermore Mairo, who Anguis was confident would overcome him one day, had fallen wholly under it's thrall and fighting him seriously. To make matters worse Anguis could feel the beast calling reinforcements back through the force.

Then Anguis got an idea. He turned ran for the tunnel he had just ascended, the beasts and Mairo in hot pursuit. Using the force to run he was slightly faster then them. but it would be a close call if he suffered fatigue. As he entered the half-collapsed room he spotted what he was looking for. Turning he allowed Mairo to charge him headlong. Locking blades and being forced against the wall. Mairo attempted to knee his master in the gut only for Anguis to sidestep and allow Mairo to smash his kneecap on solid stone. As he buckled Anguis grabbed him by his injured hand and ran lightning through his body causing him to cry out in pain. Anguis turned, The Patriarch had just pulled itself through the rubble and launched itself at Anguis.

Anguis desperately threw Mairo at it with the force only for the beast to backhand the impromptu distraction aside. Nonetheless the distraction had worked as Anguis rolled under the Patriarch with his saber lit. He was rewarded with a howl of pain as the beast's left leg was severed at the knee.

However, there was no respite as the beast immediately let loose a bolt of lightning from it's fingers.

Anguis screamed briefly before throwing himself away from the creature and readying himself for more lightning. Suddenly Mairo was charging him again, but he was hobbled by his injuries and slow enough to react to easily.

Anguis simply blocked the downward thrust and drove more lightning into Mairo's body. To his shock from the corner of his eye the Patriarch raced towards him on all 5 of its remaining limbs. Anguis attempted to sidestep using Mairo as a springboard but he underestimated the beasts speed and found his right abdomen grazed by 2 of the massive claws, leaving a pair of deep wounds as he landed. _Should be thankful I wasn't bisected_ Anguis thought. As he attempted to put more space between himself and the Patriarch he heard voices from the tunnel leading to the patriarchs' chamber. _Great, the miners are here_. Anguis realised bitterly.

He didn't have much time. Using the force, he picked up the remaining bodies from his jaunt down and hurled them at Mairo and the patriarch. Both defended by rending the bodies to pieces and it kept them stationary for a moment. As they turned to charge Anguis they noted he had pulled the first miner to him via a force choke. Anguis snapped the miners neck with the force even as he reached for something on the miners' harness. With the new object in hand Anguis ran for the exit. The mob with the Patriarch and Mairo in hot pursuit. None noticing a small metal object rolling in the opposite direction from the Sith lord. Suddenly Anguis turned and used the force to bring the charging mob to a brief standstill.

It was all he needed. The blasting charges he had taken from the miner and rolled to land alongside the other bodies detonated.

The blast brought even more of the weak ceiling down on the mob, crushing most of them. The Patriarch roared in rage and threw a wild bolt of lightning at Anguis before becoming the primary target of Anguis. Using all of his strength the Sith Lord forced The Patriarch to remain under a building sized slab that fell upon the beast, utterly crushing it.

Anguis began panting heavily now. His injuries were potentially lethal and even with his skill at the force delaying the inevitable he would still die from his injuries if left untreated. As he used his personal computer to summon his shuttle to The Dusty Crater he heard a groan. Looking down before him he noticed Mairo trapped under much of the rubble. Only his head and previously injured left hand visible. Mairo was trying to speak but it only came out as a weak sputter.

"And thus...you…have...failed." Anguis sputtered to his dying former apprentice. Turning as Mairo died he slowly walked up the stairs of the establishment. As he exited he noted a large number of miners not unlike those under the Patriarchs thrall. However instead of fanatical dedication they were now all on the ground undergoing what looked to Anguis like extreme seizures and convulsions. A number of unaffected personnel were attempting to provide aid, but they were vastly outnumbered by those affected. In the darkness and confusion of the Ulguan night Anguis managed to get to the shuttle without drawing attention.

Once aboard he activated the medical droid. It was a crude model, meant mostly for patching up Mairo after particularly painful lessons, but it was all Anguis had for now. As the droid worked on his heavily injured torso Anguis thought on the beast he had fought, the cult it had seemed to create that served it's every whim, and its abilities. Furthermore, he thought on how well they had hidden themselves. He knew most tricks for clouding the force but even he had not detected these beasts until it was too late. Furthermore, there was their obscenely powerful mind tricks. Anguis was adamant. If there were more of these groups then they were extremely dangerous to the Sith as they were now. A single group had killed the apprentice and almost the master. Perhaps once the Sith plan had come to full fruition they could be stopped but their current strength was not enough. All Anguis could think to do in the event of more such organizations was to learn to identify them and avoid drawing their attention.

But then there were the Jedi. If those self-righteous ideologues found out about these cults they would doubtlessly scour the galaxy, and in doing so potentially discover the previously thought extinct Sith. Such a scenario would likely end in the destruction of the Sith, a scenario he could not allow. He had no choice. He would dedicate his efforts to identifying and suppressing the existence of these cults from the Jedi as a whole while sharpening the Sith's abilities to discover them. The fact that the cult seemed to try very hard to hide from scrutiny would help with Anguis' plans assuming any other cults acted similarly.

Anguis sighed. He would need to craft a Holocron to get the magnitude of the threat of these cults fully documented and recorded, a task he was not certain he would be capable of for decades, if ever. He also had to find a new apprentice and give them better training such that they did not fall to the potent mind powers of the cult members.

First things first however he would ensure that his trade deal with Hoersch-Kessel Drives would be completed.

The Sith Grand plan would come to fruition one way or another. and Anguis was determined to do his part to ensure that the Sith would finally dominate the galaxy.


	3. Chapter 2: Planet Killer

**0 BBY, DS-01 Command Deck**

The massive space station hung ominously in the skies of Alderaan, bringing massed confusion and fear to the population. It was as if a gigantic eye had been brought to bear before planet and was now carefully scrutinising the surface.

Such concerns were beneath Tarkin as he switched his gaze from the viewscreen to the rest of the command bridge, observing the crew and their displays with a stern eye. After a moment of finding no fault in the crew proceeding he turned back to the planet, lost in thought. _Direct proof of aid for the rebels in the form of Alderaan's own Princess. So much I'll be able to do with this knowledge._

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of approaching footsteps and the faint noise of an artificial respirator. Suddenly a green uniformed officer came up on his left side.

"Grand Moff Tarkin, Lord Vader and the prisoner will be here momentarily."

Tarkin nodded and dismissed him with a wave of his hand. Shortly after another officer approached. He respectfully nodded to the Grand Moff. "We've entered the Alderaan System."

Before either man could say another word a rather loud voice caused both to turn to a young woman in a featureless white dress being escorted by the unmistakable black figure of Lord Vader.

"Governor Tarkin. I should have expected to find you holding Vaders leash. I recognised your foul stench when I was brought on board."

Tarkin smiled humorlessly at his prisoner and gently cupped her chin with his hand. "Charming to the last. You don't know how hard I found it signing the order to terminate your life." As he spoke he dragged his finger across her neck.

Unperturbed, Leia held his gaze "I'm surprised you found the courage to take the responsibility yourself."

Tiring of the verbal spar and posturing Tarkin decided to proceed with his latest interrogation plan.

"Princess Leia, before your execution I would like you to be my guest at a ceremony that will make this battle station operational." Tarkin stated, gesturing to the bridge. "No star system will dare oppose the Emperor now."

Leia's tone dropped from snarky to serious. "The more you tighten your grasp,the more star systems will slip through your fingers."

"Not after we demonstrate the power of this station." Tarkin retorted before gesturing to the Princess. "In a way, you have determined the choice of the planet that will be destroyed first. Since you are reluctant to provide us with the location of the rebel base I have decided to test the destructive power of this station on your home planet of Alderaan.

At that Leia's front of bravado crumpled. Tarkin listened in concealed fury as she blubbered about Alderan being peaceful and having no weapons. He remembered the Clone Wars. How many systems were destroyed or crippled under an unending tide of war machines, clones, and honest men. How soft-hearted pacifict idealists had cost so many lives with their orders to avoid unnecessary industrial or civilian casualties. All because of the "peaceful" citizens who happened to have battle droid manufacture plants or critical supply caches a few kilometres away or refused to defend themselves and demanded honest and necessary soldiers to die in their stead.

Tarkin had come to the conclusion decades ago that a swift war was a just war. Destroy any and every resource the enemy has, be it credits, manpower, weapons, rations, etc... and finish the fight before it becomes a meat grinder for both sides. Even the vanquished side would better off in the long run. And right before him stood the single largest source of rebellion aid, and one Masquerading as a loyal imperial planet no less. Such mercurial loyalty must be made an example of, for the good of the Empire.

He turned, interrupting the desperate princess "You have another target? A military target? then NAME THE SYSTEM!" Tarkin exclaimed impatiently.

Leia froze, then took a step back into the watching Vader as Tarkin approached to within an inch of her. Fear clouding her face. "I grow tired of asking so this will be the last time. Where is the rebel base?"

Leia looked to her home planet framed in the view screen and stuttered an answer. it was a half truth, but hoping she was making the right choice her lips hesitantly formed words she knew would doom those left behind.

"Dantooine. They're on Dantooine".

"There, you see Lord Vader she can be reasonable." Tarkin turned to the ranking officer "Continue with the operation. You may fire when ready."

"WHAT" Leia shouted in panic.

Tarkin responded as if talking to a child that had dropped their sweets in sand. "You're far to trusting. Dantooine is too remote to make an effective statement. But don't worry, we will deal with your rebel friends soon enough".

Leia reached for Tarkin but was restrained by Vader, Helpless to stop what was coming she could only watch in horror as the massive green laser streaked towards her home Planet.

Alderaan exploded in a massive cloud of incandescent molten rock. The blast scattered the few remaining lumps into a rough debris field. Tumbling continental plates still red hot continued to twist and smash into smaller and smaller shards, each devoid of life.

Millions of lives eradicated in an instant.

* * *

 **Somewhere between Alderaan and Tatooine: Cargo transport/smuggler Millennium Falcon**

The young farm boy was distracted from the exercise he was doing by a short gasp from his mentor. Turning his head and deactivating his lightsaber he approached as Obi Wan Kenobi took a seat. His normally kind gaze marred by a grimace of pain and loss.

"Are you alright? Whats wrong?" Luke asked in concern.

Obi Wan met his new pupils eyes, his own clouded with sorrow. "I felt a great disturbance in The Force. As if millions of voices cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced." He did not express that similar feelings had been plaguing his mind for around 5 years now, but never this abrupt or powerful. He shuddered to think of what the empire was doing to further cement its power.

"I fear something terrible has happened. You better carry on with your exercises."

* * *

 **Somewhere in the vicinity of the Dantooine System**

A massive psychic disturbance suddenly gained the attention of the Hive Mind. One of the psychic beacons on the other side of the galaxy suddenly ceased to exist. It had been a very healthy beacon too, indicating a very large Cult had taken root. The Hive poured over it's past experiences. The beacon had been erased far too rapidly to be caused by Cult discovery and subsequent conflict by an indigenous population. Furthermore no abrupt change in strength or character that would occur had the Cult been engaged in terrestrial warfare. Something had instantly and without warning obliterated the entire Cult in a single strike. And given how decentralised the cults tended to be it meant that whatever it was it had a wide scope. the Hive felt anxiousness as the most likely conclusion came to the intelligent minds forming the gestalt.

Somewhere in the galaxy was a civilisation with weapons capable of almost instantaneously wiping out an entire planet and had the willingness to use it on seemingly stable worlds.

The Hive wasn't particularly afraid. It had dealt with such weapons sporadically in the past, however it meant that as the prey got more and more desperate it would cause great losses of biomass, though it may take years for that point to be reached. Furthermore the lack of distress sent out by the cult meant that it would likely take little preparation for the weapon to fire. It would make preparation for the next intergalactic migration far more difficult.

The Hive Fleet had been in the galaxy for a relatively short time, less then 5 years. In that time the few outer stars supporting life had been devoured without incident. No major sentient forces had attempted to destroy the fleet and very few sentients had been discovered. Of those small sentient populations that had been found the Cults had made very deep inroads into the society due to a lack of rampant xenophobia which could result in difficulty establishing Cults. In this case the Cults had successfully prevented any major warnings from being sent out and/or sabotages what little defences existed in these worlds. But that would not last long. The hive knew from experience that this was a poorly patrolled frontier of a larger galactic body and that defences would increase as more headway was made towards the food rich middle and inner star bands.

With the knowledge that there was at least one form of prey capable of effectively fighting back the Hive reached a rough consensus that the best approach would be to splinter the fleet and terminate as many enemy facilities as quickly as possible once they hit the proper body of the galaxy, hopefully crippling the prey before it could fully prepare for the coming threat. Following the next meal the fleet would scatter and attempt to devour as many of the more significant Cult populated worlds in the region as possible. As it happened the next meal was mere hours away in FTL.

 **Imperial Star Destroyer _Capitulation,_ Bridge**

Upon the Flagship of the 111th General Cassio Tagge turned his attention to the Holo Projector. The blue tinted figure of Grand Moff Tarkin stood at ease in the projector. He nodded to the Grand Moff but stayed silent, awaiting his orders.

"Our prisoner has named Dantooine as the location of the main rebel base. I expect it to either be a trap or a false lead but nonetheless we should investigate it. I want you to take the 111th, 127th, and the 309th, scout the system for any sign of the rebels immediately. Wipe out every trace you find of them on planet, ascertain their movements if possible, then report back." The Moff stated.

Tagge's expression hardened. "With respect Grand Moff I'll need a larger force or at least preliminary data from probe droids. If it is a significant rebel base they could cost us a significant number of men and machines. Furthermore the turbolaser gunners on the Death Star are not up to Imperial standard yet. We're still collecting practical data regarding firing arcs and weight of shot that have been theoretical for so long. This Dantooine base could be a diversion to launch a surprise attack on the Death Star or an ill prepared military force."

Tarkin grimanced. "Every day we leave these rebels unpunished they grow, spread, and escape. We need to cut out the cancer they represent as quickly and harshly as possible."

Tagge stood his ground "Either this is a wild goose chase or a trap, and i'm sure you don't want anything to happen to you precious planet killer would you? We are ill prepared for an operation of this undertaking from this particular station. Considering the scope of the rebel problem we'll either have our retaliatory force ambushed near Dantooine or a surprise attack who knows where in the empire. It would be far more prudent to alert another force to do a recon sweep or wait for local forces to meet doctrine standards."

"I will not have another argument regarding your cowardly and defeatist drivel!" Tarkin snapped. "You will take the allotted forces and subjugate the rebels immediately."

Tagge resigned himself to his orders "Let the records show my opposition to this plan, but I will carry it out."

"See that you do." Tarkin stated before the projector dimmed.

Tagge sighed in resignation. "Alright you heard the Grand Moff. Contact the fleet. I want us in system as soon as possible. We depart at 15:00 hours". A chorus of affirmatives was followed by the general chatter of order relays. Tagge reviewed his fleet. He had been given 3 Imperial class Star Destroyers, 1 Interdictor, 1 Gladiator 2 Carriers, 2 Dragon Class heavy cruisers, and 8 light cruisers. A formidable force that would be more then sufficient to deal with an isolated cell but nowhere near enough for the concentrated fleet that the Rebels could potentially sortie. Alas the outcome was now largely beyond his control. The force would depart soon.

"Are we soon to depart general?"

Turning, Tagge met the gaze of the assigned Inquisitor. He was a tall and gaunt human with pale skin wearing lightly plated dark grey and black armour and a large rounded black helmet with a flange on the right side, covering the upper quarter of his face including the right eye. The face covering had the symbol of the empire in the centre giving the impression of a large, lopsided eye. Tagge fought the urge to roll his eyes at the ridiculous headwear.

"Indeed Inquisitor. Once we rendezvous with the _Lawbringer_ within the hour we will jump. Should be at Dantooine within a week or so, give or take." Tagge replied.

"Good. I will be in my quarters until we arrive. I would prefer not to be disturbed." The Inquisitor stated before turning and departing the bridge.

Tagge wordlessly watched the Inquisitor depart before returning to his oversight. He knew the organisation had been largely cut from previous levels and hoped that those superstitious superpowered loons would soon join the Jedi in the annuls of history. Though he was not so rash as to openly proclaim such thoughts as Admiral Motti had been

An hour later the rendezvous with the delayed carrier had been met and the jump to hyperspace had commenced without incident. Throughout most of the week progress was steady and uneventful.

Then suddenly, within a day of arrival an alarm blared and the Star Destroyer shuddered back into realspace. To say the incident bothered Tagge would have been a severe understatement.

"REPORT! What the hell happened" The general barked.

"Sir, unknown gravitic anomaly has consumed the Dantooine system. We can't enter hyperspace any closer then we are now. At sublight speed it will take us 3 years to reach the destination." a crewman reported.

"Any idea of the origin? is it some sort of new rebel weapon?" Tagge asked.

"Unknown"

"Perhaps I can provide some assistance"

Tagge turned to see the Inquisitor at the bridge entrance. Unbidden he entered the bridge and stood alongside Tagge, much to the generals discomfort. "I sense a great imbalance in the force. And it is centred on our destination."

Tagge rolled his eyes. "And what exactly does that mean to us unenlightened" he spat.

The Inquisitor turned to the general. "Truthfully I have no idea. I have hunted many Jedi and they never gave off such an aura. Whatever awaits us is powerful... and dangerous."

Tagge stiffened somewhat. Most force user he had encountered, primarily other Inquisitors and Vader dripped with a sense of superiority and arrogance. To see one so cowed and serious was somewhat alarming.

Tagge was about to retort when the helmsmen interrupted. "Sir! the Distortions have receded. We can proceed as planned to Dantooine at this time. ETA 20 standard hours."

"Proceed but keep us at a stand off distance upon arrival. Something is not right here."

"Aye sir"

 **-20 hours later-**

Across the fleet pilots, support crews, and stormtroopers raced to complete pre-operation checks and maintenance interrupted by the delay. Unlike many operations the mood was sombre. The bridge crews gossip of the discussion between Tagge and the Inquisitor had spread throughout the vessel and many wondered just what would await them in system.

As per Tagge's orders the fleet entered realspace at a considerable distance from the main planet of Dantooine. Furthermore they emerged on the far side of the planet Bannakon, largely shrouding their arrival from conventional sensors.

"Alright lets take a look at this Rebel Base. Helmsman, Half ahead, bring us around the planet. Comms, Get sensors ready. Let's see what the rebels have in store for us." Tagge ordered.

The flotilla of vessels crept around Bannakon. Dantooine first appeared as a small green and blue marble. As the fleet approached it grew to dominate the viewscreen.

What appeared on, or more accurately in orbit of, Dantooine upon closer inspection would defy explanation for many months to come.


	4. Chapter 3: Unknown Hostiles

**Bridge of Imperial Star Destroyer _Capitulation._**

Tagge and the rest of the bridge crew stared dumbfounded at the tactical screen, their minds briefly not processing the images displayed.

Ships

Massive Ships

Thousands of them.

Or were they even ships at all?

There were several strange variants but all observed vessels looked like twisted organic monsters. The common trait of the void borne forms was a series of large plates that looked eerily like burnt, greenish black bone highlighted by pale milky flesh-like material filling the gaps and joints in the carapace. As a whole they were rough teardrop shaped slabs with a series of tendrils and insectoid limbs clustered along the tapered tail

The larger vessels ranging up to around 8 km, had a similar tapered teardrop shape heavily armoured and sporting a pair of massive tusk like lower jaws giving the appearance of a triangular flower. Even from this distance the sensors could make out grotesque grasping appendages at the tip of the narrow end of the teardrop hull.

But it was the largest vessels that were most unusual and terrifying to everyone's mind. Despite being almost 15 km long the vessels themselves was rather stubby and rotund, giving a brutish and feral impression and Tagge briefly compared it to a purrgil, with a similar outline all but covered in thick, dark plate making the white material appear as scarce fissures of stark white clouding shrouded against a black wall. Near what appeared to be the front end a pair of massive crescent shaped projections grew out and forward like grotesquely oversized insect mandibles. The sides and dorsal ridges were studded with large stubby conical projections.

"GENERAL!" a panicked voice cried out from behind. Tagge turned about to reprimand the speaker for their inability to control themselves only to see he was facing the Inquisitor. His visible eye was wide and darting erratically while his whole body was tense and he appeared on the verge of a psychotic breakdown. Just seeing one of the infamous Jedi hunters in this state almost made Tagge panic himself.

"They sense us! I can feel it! THEM! No. Not it BUT THEM!" The inquisitor shouted. " So many thoughts clawing at my MIND! I feel them! The scratching... So many voices. So much NOISE! Grasping, Chittering, FEEDING! That Damned chittering..." Whatever else the force user sputtered was unintelligible as Tagge made to remove the liability from his bridge.

"Security! Escort the Inquisitor off the bridge and confine him to quarters until he... composes himself!" Tagge bluntly ordered. He was met with a blank stare from the security troopers. Not that Tagge particularly blamed them. Normally to even give an order to a supposedly subordinate or equivalent Inquisitor was a significant risk to that officers career if not life, let alone giving orders to detain one "YOU HEARD ME!". Tagge punctuated, rather more irritably then he would have liked. To his relief the troopers somehow gently grabbed the inquisitors arms and slowly led him off the bridge and his babbling was finally blocked out by the closing doors.

Turning to the situation at hand Tagge observed a large number of the smaller 2 km vessels and nearly a dozen of the massive three pronged vessels break orbit and begin moving towards the Imperial fleet.

"All ships this is General Tagge. All vessels are to immediately prepare to jump back to The Alderaan system. Our punitive fleet is not capable of engaging a fleet of this size on its own. Do not move to engage the enemy force but if they come in range you may open fire. If possible deploy all viper droids and program them to hunker down and observe these... Things."

To Tagge's alarm the unknown vessels were rapidly closing in. He had never encountered anything outside of hyperspace move that fast. "Give me an ETA on our jump and when the enemy vessels will be in firing range"

First to respond was the combat scanner "ETA... 8 minutes"

"That's too soon, we'll need at least 11 minutes to jump considering we need to do the pre-prep calcs as well" Came the reply from the hyperdrive operator.

Tagge nodded and looked back to the approaching fleet. "give me a report on the Viper droid deployment"

"The fleet has approximately 17 of our total 49 droids deployed. Most are set for live transmissions but 19 are programmed for delayed transmissions following observation over a given period of time in case they can be tracked.

For over a minute Tagge watched and waited. There were no hails, nor radio traffic of any kind picked up from the approaching aberrations. They simply stayed true on their apparent intercept course. Then abruptly they banked hard to the right in a sort of jink before resuming course. It made no sense to Tagge. Until it hit him that he was not facing a known ship design and thus they may not have followed standard weapon configurations of warships. His thoughts were confirmed by the Combat Scanner.

"Incoming" the combat scanner operator called out, confirming the Generals suspicions of broadside weapons. Tagge noted the approaching projectiles, fired from far beyond his turbolaser range. The projectiles were far too large to be basic turbolasers. A thought confirmed by the combat scanner "Sir, it looks like some sort of plasma volley! BRACE!"

The massed impact hammered the vessels of the fleet. Aboard the _Capitulation_ Tagge and the rest of the crew shuddered under the impact. "Report!" Tagge barked.

"Shields holding at 59%" the shield technician responded shakily.

"WHAT!" Tagge was at a loss. An Imperial class ship could withstand the weapon batteries from multiple rebel Mon Calamari capital ships for the duration of an engagement, often for several minutes or even hours on end. To be so badly weakened by a single broadside was unheard of.

"Sir were receiving transmissions from whats left of the fleet. We've lost all 5 of the _Bayonet_ cruisers. Of the other cruisers _Wanderlust_ and _Reverant_ are crippled and dead in space while the _Murmillo_ and _Krayt_ report being heavily damaged but still operable. _Lawbringer, Arbites,_ and _Constituance_ are reporting lost shields but minimal da-"

before the crewman could could continue another series jolt rocked the vessel. from the viewscreen the shields failed as strange dark objects impacted the hull leaving marred and cracked armour.

"Where did those come from?"

"Must have been fired shortly after the plasma which shielded it from our scans. It did minimal damage to us but a couple got lodged in the decks. No explosives detected."

Before Tagge could ponder the strange projectiles he heard the much awaited Hyperdrive report.

"Sir were green for Hyperspace jump!" The Helmsman reported.

"Do it!" Tagge yelled. To his immense relief the abnormal masses of the enemy fleet were abruptly replaced by the blue white glow of hyperspace. now that immediate death was on the back burner he began his assessment of the fleet.

The immediate report form damage control was not reassuring "Those last few impacts were projectile based, they punched through the shields and numerous foreign bodies are embedded throughout the ship. Our shields are down and we're leaking atmosphere from 7 locations in the hanger, decks 4, 5, and 8. Our shield generators are heavily damaged and will require refits and it looks like storage bay 3A was destroyed."

"Get the engineers moving to patch up what they can. Whats the status of the vipers?" Tagge ordered

"We launched all 8 of ours but no information on the rest of the fleet." Still trying to contact.

"Understood. tell the engineers to preserve as much of the projectiles as they can. some samples would be of great interest to the eggheads".

* * *

Deck 8: Damage control team Bravo-126

Engineer Cregan Meln cursed as he made his way through the twisted remains of the corridor. The scale of the damage was a disappointing shock to someone expecting an easy shift. First he and the rest of his Damage control team been launched flat on their asses by a massive impact less then 100 meters away from them then they been told of the extensive damage and overtime work they'd have to pull following analysis of the mystery weapon as they returned to the Alderaan System. He'd joined damage control primarily because he had thought it would be easy work and a career of endless drills and down time. After all how many rebel ships could even take down the shields of a star destroyer, let alone cause heavy damage assuming an admiral with half a neuron under their stupid hat...

"Meln! quit your daydreaming and pick up the pace!" Team Leader Hisolm barked.

Broken from his thoughts Meln scrambled to up to the rest of his 12 man squad as they pushed further into the wreckage designating droids to seal the minor atmosphere leaks as they went. Though it would be hopeless for the team to fix the impact site they were to repair what they could as they advanced to the projectile and acquired samples if they could, then begin long term damage control once the mystery object had been observed.

After half hour of work in their small section Bravo-126 had finally reached the projectile. Just looking at it made Meln shiver. It was massive, almost the size of a Lambda shuttle and far more massive when one discounted the wings of the imperial craft. It appeared to be a large orb of flesh covered with some sort of exoskeleton on the front and sides. From the rear of the projectile strange tendrils lay coiled and shredded in loose piles.

"Alright lets get what we can from this thing" Hisolm called out. In response engineers Desuza and Salan carefully approached the projectile. while Meln activated his helmet cam.

"Almost looks like it's alive, or at the very least was." remarked Salan as he procured an arc cutter. As he was about to apply it to the strange ordinance it suddenly shivered.

"The Fuck!" Salen cried out jumping back. Some of the shell like plates on the object had shifted revealing a quivering sack of flesh with a sphincter in the middle. Suddenly the sphincter quickly opened and several large masses spilled out.

Before Meln could get a good look at one he heard a shrill scream from Desuza. Turning he saw his teammate lying on his back with a strange green and white mass on his chest.

The mass turned out to be a dog sized beast Meln had never seen before in his life. It was a long, low-slung emaciated looking beast with a squat head and a long tail. It had six limbs . 2 rear legs with feet that resembled hooves, a pair of limbs ending in four fingered limbs that looked as though they could act as feet or hands immediately in front of those, and finally a pair of limbs ending in a massive foot long scythe of bone. The beast was similar to the pod it had emerged from. Mostly white milky coloured skin but a large dark green shell of bonelike material formed its back and a large portion of the beasts head. It had baleful yellow eyes and a short but large jaw filled with needlelike teeth

The beast in question was currently attempting to stab its large claws into Desuzas chest. Repeatedly.

Meln snapped out of his stupor and grabbed a large chunk of wreckage. As he approached Desuza he wound his arms back to swing. A hefty smack sent the beast sprawling. Leaning over to check on Desuza he saw most of the stabs had been ineffective on his protective uniform plating but 2 had found gaps in the abdominal and neck joints. Desuza's screams became gargled then silent.

"Boarders! the projectiles are some sort of boarding craft" Meln called into the comm. Turning he sought to find the rest of the team and make their escape

He saw only more strange creatures. nine of them were the same he had hit off Desuza but three of them were different.

They were massive, easily 3 meters tall standing on 2 legs and they had to crouch to fit in the corridor. They had the same pattern of white skin and dark green shell carapace but these beasts had far more extensive armour, covering most of their large elongate heads, backs, and part of the upper chest and upper legs resembling baroque warrior armour Meln had seen in museums. On the torso large plate-like ribs seemed to form a makeshift armour that appeared thinner then the green plate but much more flexible. The three beasts each seemed to have different arm limbs, though all had four like their smaller counterparts. two of the beasts had large crescent blades similar to the smaller beasts for upper limbs and nominally similar four fingered lower limbs but they appeared embedded in a strange flesh coloured conical protrusion with a large blunt downward pointing bit. hoses even seemed to connect the off hand to the rear of the blaster shaped growth. The third had a similar but larger and more complex blaster lookalike most notable for the bone ridge extending down the centre and an offset in the barrel that caused the top to overhang the bottom in its lower hands and a growth terminating in a barb near the "receiver" while its upper arms terminated in what looked like a hand melted and fused to a large bone coloured sabre with a relatively flat end as opposed to a tapered point and a massive cable of flesh that forked near the end, terminating in a pair of barbs. It also sported a more elaborate head armour then its peers.

At the feet of the beasts lay the tattered scraps of what had once been his co-workers.

Meln screamed and turned toward the exit. As he did a heavy impact threw him forward and he fell on his side. Before he could react he felt a burning pain like he was being ripped apart. Numbly he looked towards his abdomen to see a tangled mess of vine like growths rip their way through his flesh and suit. within seconds they had covered the width of the entire corridor with his remains.

The sword beast roared as the smaller beasts skittered towards the corridor like eager hounds followed by baleful huntsmen.

* * *

The viewscreen showing Meln's last moments cut to a schematic of the ship with eleven red dots showing the suspected boarding areas as the Platoon Leader spoke up.

"As you can see there are at least eleven potential intrusions for the unknowns. Each pod seems to contain up to 20 of the smaller forms The hostiles seem to primarily consist of some sort of strange war beasts led by a small number of the larger targets that we assume are responsible for this attack. As the big ones seem to have ranged weapons and presumably the intelligence to use them they will be the primary targets but don't hesitate to blast a mutt if they show themselves. The larger gunned commander forms are the primary targets as those vine area weapons will be devastating in close confines. We're going to be eliminating this pod first before pushing on to the hanger, where we anticipate the highest enemy concentrations and linking up with other forces. Once the hanger is cleared we will split into kill teams and attempt to corner and flank the hostiles present in corridors. Move out!"

-O-

"Contact"

Squad Commander Herron Fel quickly backpedalled to the wall of the corridor as the shriek of automatic weapon fire streaked past the opening. Peeking out he saw the smaller beasts and the sword user scampering towards his forces while the two remaining larger ones provided suppression with their strange weapons.

Leaning out he took a few potshots at the advancing smaller forms before being forced back into cover. On the other side of the hallway the troops weren't so lucky. with three troopers falling to their backs spasming viciously before going still. Fel peeked out again, aiming to take out the big ones. His blaster bolts impacted the creatures armoured head and chest.

To his horror it didn't even flinch. Fel ducked quickly and narrowly missed being hit by the strange vine cannon . It flew to the next intersection. From the screaming he heard the beast had landed a hit. Suddenly a smaller beast rounded the corner and leapt at Fel's face. Raising his blaster he caught the beast and deflected it to the side though the force of impact had knocked him backwards. Before either foe could leap again and finish their enemy off one of Fels squad mates had managed to shoot the small critter. Relieved, Fel backed off to reload his blaster pack. As he finished he saw another trooper approach his firing position.

As the trooper leaned out a massive blade erupted clean through his back. The larger beast had made it to the intersection. A hail of blaster fire from both sides covered the beast. This time staggering it but not overly slowing it down.

Then it fired.

Fel nearly panicked as he saw the troops on the other side of the intersection get torn to shreds by the fast growing vines. The beast advanced on his position, slashing and lashing out with its melee weapons that punched through standard trooper armour with ease. Then it suddenly stopped short of him and collapsed backwards. A large burn centred around the ruined crater of it's left eye

"T-Target down"

Fel turned to the speaker, a fresh private he couldn't remember, who's hands were still shaking.

"You planning on applying for squad marksman private, you want Gobrals post?" Fel quipped.

"N-No sir"

"I meant that as a compliment. Good shot son."

As the private nodded more troopers pushed up intent of dropping the remaining advancing forms. They were instantly jumped by the remaining smaller creatures. They died quickly to blaster fire but not before four more troopers lay dead.

The the remaining larger forms rounded the corner.

Fel and several soldiers dove into a maintenance corridor a split second before the shooting started. Fel readied a thermal detonator. With a call of "Grenade Out!" Fel threw it just outside the doorway. A loud shriek accompanied the explosion. Peeking out Fel saw one beast motionless in a crumpled heap, most of it's upper body vaporised. The other was curled on the floor stabbing wildly with its talons. Its front half burned and scarred. Fel approached to just outside its stabbing range and tried shooting it in the head but he hit intact armour and it only responded with more frantic stabbing that forced the Sargent back a couple steps

 _What are these things made of_ Fel thought as he took careful aim and fired at the creatures face. He was rewarded with the creatures shrieks dying and the frantic stabbing reduced to twitching like a stunned fish.

He turned to survey the troops as they slowly emerged from cover. Of the 5 squads sent to stop this intrusion one had been wiped completely and the remaining squads had been reduced to half strength or less. In all almost 35 soldiers killed in exchange for 13 enemies.

 _Hell of a trade_ Fel thought. Though they had learned vital lessons form this firefight.

"Okay we move as planned to the hangers. Focus the big ones first. Whatever they've got for armour is damn good but it doesn't cover everything. Aim for the face, limbs, lower torso, and joints. They seem especially vulnerable to thermal detonators but standard rules for grenades in enclosed spaces apply."

"No Fucking Way"

Fel turned to the speaker, a dischevelled trooper covered in bloodstains. "We have our orders"

"I don't care. Did you see what these things did to us? I don't-

"By the emperor if we don't stop these things they're going to butcher the crew by the thousands."

"So what, we need to escape while we can"

"Escape where?, we're in hyperspace you shithead."

"They said we were after ill trained Rebels They never said anything about blaster proof monsters that rip you to shr-" The dissenting trooper fell silent as Fel's e-11 rose to his head.

"That's enough out of you Trooper. Fall. In. Line."

The trooper stared "Bu-"

"These things can be killed, Look at them. I said LOOK AT THEM!" Fel gestured to the corpses. The uneasy trooper slowly turned to the dead brutes. "I understand your scared. Frankly I' terrified as well but we are Stormtroopers. We are the hammer of the Empire. We are Disciplined. And we Do. Not. Abandon. Our. Duty. If we don't stop them nothing will. And if you dare derelict your duty I'll shoot you myself here and now. Understood?"

"Y-Yes sir."

"Good." Fel lowered his weapon. "We link up with the rest of the platoon at the hanger and proceed as planned.

-O-

"Alright lets take this slow. Keep your heads down and advance slowly. We should have fewer problems here then in the corridor as long as we don't let them get close and keep the shooters suppressed."

With that the remnants of squad 2 raced through the door and took up positions on the catwalk overlooking the hanger. Three pods had crashed through, destroying several vehicles and creating a myriad of cover. It seemed the present contingent of troopers and auto turrets had largely kept the aliens stuck in cover near their pods.

"About time" Fel turned to the company leader addressing him. "I need your men to flank around these bastards while we keep em suppressed, We got a ton of the little guys but those big ones are a pain to shift"

Fel nodded and called to his men. Flanking around to the aft catwalk they approached a wrecked AT-AT. Suddenly a group of the smaller beasts clambered on top. Even from this distance Fel saw something was off with these creatures. Then he realised it.

They didn't have the large scythe tipped front limbs. And the smaller pair was hooked up to something similar to the ranged weapons the larger creatures had used

"Take Cover" Fel called as the smaller creatures let loose with what appeared to be a cut down version of the fast firing weapons weapon used by the larger beasts. As Fel peeked out to return fire he saw most of the creatures had taken cover behind the wreckage.

"Careful. These mutts have firearms and know how to use them" Fel called out. A tense exchange of fire continued until a trooper managed to get a thermal detonator into the beasts cover. Again Fel was surprised. They had all broke cover and attempted to make a run for another patch or wreckage. Though they were gunned down in the process it spoke disturbingly to the intelligence and capabilities of "mere hunting dogs".

"Alright lets send these bastards back to whatever pit they crawled fr-" Fel was interrupted when one of the pods suddenly started shaking. unlike the others it appeared that it had not released it's cargo.

"Hah, great timing, blast whatever comes out of that pod" Fel called out. Lining up and peeking from their cover over a dozen barrels aimed squarely at the shaking pod. Suddenly a scythe claw punches through it before ripping clean through the pod.

A scythe far too large for any of the observed forms.

"Uhhh commander."

Before the trooper could finish his thought a new monster burst from the pod. Unlike the others this form was very thickset and appeared hunched under the weight of the enormous green armour slabs that completely covered the beasts head and back. Three pairs of chimney-like growths of armour grew from the creatures back and a long tail tipped with a pair of short spines extended behind the beast. Even with it's hunched stance it stood 5 meters tall at the hip. Its long, muscular front four limbs each ended with a massive blade as long as it was tall. Its head was relatively wide and rounded with torso armour overhanging the neck and the front of the bulky head covered with rounded armour. As it turned to face the bulk of the suppressing stormtroopers a sickly green glow appeared to emanate from its mouth.

"Fire!" Fel yelled. To his horror the bolts left little more then insignificant scorch marks.

Ignoring the ineffective fire the beast gave a deafening roar as it advanced towards the horrified troopers, the green glow becoming overpowering.


	5. Chapter 4: Screamer Killer

**Hanger Bay of Imperial Star Destroyer _Capitulation_**

Fel could only watch in horror as the monstrous beast shrieked at the bulk of the troopers suppressing the other beasts. Luminous green globules emanated from its radiant mouth alongside the deafening roar in a rough and random cone pattern like an oversized shotgun. When the projectiles hit cover they would splatter and blow apart weak cover or distort and melt strong cover, leaving it glowing with residual heat. Where they hit soldiers they never even got a chance to scream as they were thrown back in molten and burning pieces. In an instant 13 men were dead and 3 were incapacitated with severe burns and deformed armour from near misses and "shrapnel".

To make matters worse the formerly suppressed beasts could now expose themselves and return the favour.

"Throw detonators and fall back! Ordered retreat!" Fel called out as the threw his last detonator over the catwalk railing.

As Fel retreated he heard a crescendo of explosion punctuated by a the odd shriek, giving hope of heavy enemy casualties. Then Fel turned to provide more cover and noticed several dead smaller beasts including one of the intermediates.

And the giant beast lumbering towards the squad with alarming speed battering its way through all but the wrecked AT-ATs along with dozens of the small and intermediate forms.

Turning to run faster he heard the whizzing sound of the strange vine weapons below him. The catwalk shuddered as they impacted the floor approximately 40 feet in front of his position. The vines quickly expanded and entangled the support pillars which groaned under the stress. Before Fel could react the giant beast roared again and the floor of the catwalk near the compromised supports suddenly glowed white hot before patchy holes opened, a trooper falling as a green mass impacted his back. Too late Fel realised they enemy planned to take the catwalk down.

With a loud groan the tortured metal gave way as the catwalk abruptly lurched downward at the point of failure. Fortunately for the troopers the catwalk held at the opposite end resulting in a steep ramp that spilled the troopers out across the hanger floor and temporarily blocking the oncoming forces from finishing off the troopers as they collected themselves.

A report sounded in Fel's comms but he ignored it as he prioritised getting what was left of his squad to the armoury about a hundred meters away. He could only pray that a shock trooper team or at the very least a MiniMag would be present.

As the men rounded a smashed Tie bomber a rhythmic thumping caught their attention. Rounding more wreckage a pair of AT-STs lumbered into view.

"Squad, take positions and cover those walkers" Fel Called out before keying in the comms. "Walkers, enemy is advancing . They have some sort of entangling weapons so try not to expose your legs. Also be careful of the big one.

"Roger, lets shred these bugs"

The loud whine of the repeating blaster filled the hanger as the AT-STs peeked over the former TIE bomber and lay down a carpet of fire. Impacts threw the smaller creatures back several meters and thankfully even the intermediates seemed unable to endure fire from the vehicle mounted weaponry as they quickly went to ground. Sporadic fire scratched and dented the front armour of the walker but thankfully did no severe damage. Even a vine shot failed to to any lasting damage as it encased and covered the upper corner before sloughing off momentarily. Using the breathing room Fel quickly keyed in to the Command frequency.

"This is Squad commander Fel. We've met up with the ST's near armoury G3. We have the infantry suppressed but they've got some sort of living tank down here that shrugged off everything we have. We need a Shock Trooper squad down here."

"Roger. STS alpha 23 is nearest. They should reach the armoury in a minute.

"Understood." Fel responded

"Um this is ST-091 what do you mean by living tank?" one of the Walker crewmen replied.

"What do you mean? the big hulking thing the size of a bloody tank that spits green projectiles. What else could i be referring to?" Then Fel noticed he hadn't heard the beast for some time now, a quick peek towards the entrenched creatures showed an absence of giant monsters. "Shit! Squad, comms, anyone seen the big one on camera or something?"

Command replied. "Uh yeah, it wandered out of frame once the ST-s started shooting a moment ago. Went towards that wrecked Lambda."

Fel looked to the Lambda in question noting it was disturbingly close to an AT-AT that led close to the firing position of the AT-STs. Fel was instantly reminded of standard firefight doctrine and recognised what was going on "STs, get out of there its flank-"

A sudden shearing sound drowned out the warning as the beast tore through the troop compartment of the AT-AT and emerged meters from the two walkers. One of the smaller walkers turned and Fel heard cursing in his comms as it opened up on the giant beast with its blaster. The beast ignored this as the glow of it's mouth got brighter. Fel quickly ran for more cover as the beast blasted the AT-ST with it's roar attack. The metal glowed white hot and distorted inwards as the blaster fire stopped. The second ST began to backpedal away from the beast as fast as it could as it advanced on the incapacitated vehicle and slammed it to the ground The impact created a large explosion that burned but did not overly hamper the beast as it sought its prey. Turning to the surviving AT-ST it suddenly broke into a mad dash towards the machine. As it approached it's four claws rose high and it speared them towards the vehicle.

The blades tore through the armour like tinfoil, penetrating the cockpit on the gunner side and undoubtedly killing him. Then the mass of the beast forced the machine to sprawl to the left on the hanger floor. From there it spread the hull apart with its blades before ducking its head into the wreckage. When it rose Fel saw the driver in the beasts massive maw. His feeble flailing accounted for nothing as the beast threw him to the ground and speared three times him with its massive limbs leaving not but a red smear and chunks of flesh. With the machines destroyed Fel saw two of the intermediates return to their inexorable advance.

The beast suddenly turned towards the squad and began advancing again.

"Come on! lure this thing near the armoury the STs will deal with it!" fel called as he let a burst of fire strike the beasts head. it did no damage but grabbed the creatures attention as it turned and began advancing on the squad commander. Lookign ahead he could see the hallway that led to the armoury to his immediate relief he saw a small group of troopers with shoulder mounter Minimags enter the hanger. After glancing at the monster briefly they immediately took aim with their weapons. With a dull thud the portable proton torpedos streaked towards the giant beast. Three of them struck the beast upper shoulder though the remaining two streaked over massive target as it stumbled. One arm now hung loosely and the plating near the shoulder had fragmented and mixed with mushed flesh and bone shards in the shoulder. As it regained its footing it abruptly turned to the new threat and prepared to roar again.

Before it could attack a rocket slammed into its armoured head and sent the beast reeling and letting off a distinctly less healthy sounding screecj. It hunched down using its three remaining scythes to support its bulk as it regained its senses, a large crater present in its head exposing skull and inflamed brain tissue.

"What the fuck does it take to kill this thing" one of the shock troopers muttered as he fired another rocket at the beasts head. This one impacted the previous wound and the right half of the head simply ceased to exist. With a massive lurch the beast toppled forwards and lay still, the green glow from it's mouth slowly dimming out of existance.

"Sir we've just taken out the rest of the creatures in the hanger. Seems secure." One of Fel's troopers responded.

"Understood Trooper, what are our casualties?" Fel asked.

"We lost 6 men in our squad in the hanger. I haven't checked but I assume total or near total losses for the other squad where that big thing emerged."

"Understood." Fel proceeded to relay the information to Command.

"Excellent work trooper. Your squad was engaged with the last, and due in no small part to that massive beast serious, incursion. Disregard the kill team orders. You and any sufficiently healthy troopers are to return for a full debrief.

Fel sighed with relief. A full debrief while aggravating usually proceeded an extended rest period. The pain in the ass debrief would be totally worth the extra time to nurse the inevitable hangover from the Corellian brandy he has in his quarters. Especially following such a clusterfuck of a mission

* * *

1 Hour later - Officers briefing room of _Capitualtion_

"Well this was a total Clusterfuck of an engagement" Legion commander Artea Demming cursed to her fellow officers in the briefing. "I just got the last report from Acting Platoon Commander Shishak. In total the 782nd lost almost three hundred troopers. Though there was a large amount of guesswork involved in estimating enemy casualties the current total for enemy forces consisted of between 200 and 300 but the vast majority of those were the gaunt little hound analogues, with only approximately 30 bodies from what seemed to be the soldier or humanoid variant and the living tank that tore the hanger to shreds. Not a single enemy had been taken alive as even in death they did their best to take as many soldiers down as they could. All we could get were a bunch of very mangled corpses, troop reports, and a staggering amount of camera footage while the bodies were preserved for scientific analysis." The Legate concluded.

General Tagge nodded approvingly "Understood legate. Give those men a good rest but have the remaining troopers on high alert. Increase the security patrols as much as possible is case we missed something. Captain Pylott, any news on the losses in the hanger?

Pylott, a stooped older man sighed heavily. "While the enemy infantry didn't to much overall damage those boarding craft and plasma shots wiped out most of the machines aft of Armory F. We're still calcualting lighter machinery losses but I can confirm a loss of 12 AT-ATs, 9 TIE Bombers, 6 Troop transports, and 5 Lambdas in terms of significant material losses"

Tagge pinched the bridge of his nose in exacerbation. In addition to a mangled fleet and no affect on the rebels now they had lost significant ground forces without even making orbit of the intended planet. Tarkin was not going to be pleased.

Fortunately damage control had reported that they had finally repaired much of the significant systems, though they had adamantly refused to work without guards after the first few teams had been wiped out once their fates became clear.

"In the mean time lets see what these beasts have been up to." tagge stated as he keyed the holo dosplay on the table. Suddenly Dantooine came into stark focus on the projector. The strange fleet had clustered heavily over the southern ocean through a few vessels appeared to be acting as guards circling at an extended distance. though not highly visible from the camera from this range isolated blips and pixels suggested a massive force landing planetside. There were other significant changes near the fleets chosen orbit site. The ocean had a mild, nearly imperceptible greenish tint to it and forests seem to have been cleared from around the shoreline.

"Looks like some sort of landing zone. Probably to secure the area. maybe they have some sort of important resource there they want to extract?" Legate Demming Mused.

"Maybe but it doesn't make much sense." Tagge Muttered as he drew up an old survey of Dantooine. They picked the most overgrown section of the planet. Perhaps that's where the Rebel base might have been and they were trying to pacify the planet? but why would they land troops if they could just blast it from orbit, they didn't even try communicating with us.

"Could be they've bought whatever bullshit the rebels said about us and they're reinforcing them. Demming mused."

"Perhaps. Either way we need to inform Tarkin once we return to realspace." Tagge sighed trying to figure out how to explain this incident.


	6. Chapter 5: Preemptive Retaliation

**Death Star Bridge**

Tarkin remained glued to the local space display, or more accurately, to the solitary blip that had settled on the isolated moon. Though the delay in the execution of the Rebellious princess was irritating the opportunity to uncover another rebel cell was too great. The homing droid had yet to be detected and had indicated the smuggler had landed on the forested 4th moon of Yavin. Furthermore the treacherous Obi Wan Kenobi had been slain by Darth Vader. Even reminiscing on his rescue by the Master Jedi back in the Clone Wars brought a sour taste to his mouth and he idly wondered if even back then if it had been treachery instead of ineptitude during the incident. Pulling himself back to the present he smiled at the current state of affairs. The bulk of the rebels were cornered at Yavin by the strongest war machine of all time. In total it had panned out into quite a successful week.

"Sir we've got a communication from General Tagge. He says it's urgent." The comms officer stated breaking Tarkin from his thoughts.

Tarkins mood dipped slightly. Tagge may have been overly cautious but he was still military and knew communication protocols. There was no way he would need to urgently report on a mere scouting run without very good reason.

"Redirect him to my personal quarters. Vader, with me" Tarkin replied as they turned for his office. Taking a seat with Vader to his left Tarkin keyed the holoemitter. The first thing that struck Tarkin was Tagge's state of uniform. His normally immaculate uniform was heavily creased, his hat askew, and his hair a mess. Right away Tarkin knew he was not going to enjoy this news.

"Sir. There is a massive enemy armada in orbit around Dantooine as we speak. We req-"

"And why are you here telling me this as opposed reporting their destruction? You had a significant force at your disposal when we last communicated." Tarkin said lowly.

"And the enemy armada was ten times bigger then the entire republic fleet back during the bloody war." Tagge retorted bitterly.

"Impossible. There's no way the Rebels would have even a fraction of that many ship. Your concealment of your cowardice won't avail you with-"

"Goddamnit Tarkin we don't have time for this!" Tagge snapped, interrupting the Grand Moff. "I've never seen anything like these ships, or species for that matter. Hell they probably crawled out of some shitty hole in the Unknown Regions. They were an armada of thousands of ships. The smallest ones were the size of heavy cruisers and a few hundred were bigger then Assertors." Tarkin stayed silent for a moment.

Then Vader spoke up. "Where is the Inquisitor you were assigned. Perhaps he could explain more clearly"

Tagge shook his head. "Look It all started about 24 hours before we were due to arrive in system. We were pulled out of hyperspace due to a severe gravity field enveloping the system. We postulated a bit before the inquisitor came to the bridge. He said some mystical force stuff about the enemy being strong in the force or something before he retired to his quarters. We were only stuck for about 5 minutes before the gravity field abated and we could resume. I ordered the fleet to arrive at a greater distance because I didn't know what was waiting for us. In retrospect that saved what few ships returned"

At that Tarkin's expression became dark but he let Tagge continue. Tagge keyed something into a console and the footage abruptly changed. It showed Dantooine in the distance and a number of strange, massive vessels in orbit with a sizeable number split off and charging the fleet. "Immediately after obtaining a visual a detachment of the enemy force broke off and made to intercept the fleet. At the same time the Inquisitor...went crazy. He suddenly started screaming about scratching, or chirping, or something in his mind. I had security...escort him to his quarters."

The footage changed again to show the inquisitor huddled on the floor of his quarters babbling and clutching his head. He looked even more dishevelled then Tagge and Tarkin didn't even bother inquiring about the stains.

"The intercepting enemy made no attempt at communication whatsoever. At a range of around 4000 km they launched a massive broadside of what appears to be plasma" Tagge resumed. By this point I had already ordered a retreat to raise a more appropriate force to counter this threat-"

"Spare me your deflection of blame and continue the report" Tarkin snapped.

"...The first broadside wiped out all of the light cruisers, crippled the heavies to varying degrees, and brought the shields of the carriers, Interdictor, and Destroyers somewhere between 40-70 percent." Immediately behind this was a wave of what appear to be boarding pods, though some of the projectiles have an unknown function. Shortly after this the surviving vessels managed to jump to hyperspace. However the enemy boarders were... formidable. We were unable to take any specimens alive.

The footage cut to the _Capitulation's_ hanger where it showed several stormtrooper squads engaging what to Tarkin resembled armoured insectoids ranging in size from a few feet to one creature the size of a tank.

"Upon arrival we attempted to contact the surviving vessels. The emerging fleet consisted of only the cruiser _Murmillo._ The carriers, and the 3 Star Destroyers. All in a state of heavy damage. Furthermore the _Lawbringer_ reports they have lost significant portions of the ship to boarders and we have received no word whatsoever from _Arbites_ and it sits dead in space. I fear the boarding parties have killed the entire crew of the vessel.

At this Tagge brought up more footage showing the fleet in orbit around Dantooine. "Before we jumped out we managed to get 49 probe droids deployed to observe the enemy fleet. We had 30 programmed for live feeds and 19 programmed to transmit data after a few days in case they were tracked. We lost 23 of the live feed droids over the duration of the hyperspace jump and several of the delayed droids also transmitted prematurely leading me to believe they were compromised."

Tarkin was silent for a moment before turning to Vader. "You've been up close and personal with the rebel scum. What do you think"

"Even if Tagge is overstating these unknown's capabilities they would be a danger to our hold on the outer planets through sheer numbers. The rebels must be destroyed but even with the Death Star plans they are a mere irritant as long as we are vigilant as opposed to what constitutes at minimum a pressing threat to our control over already unstable worlds in the outer rim." The Sith Lord answered.

Tarkin nodded grimy. "Very well. Send me all data you've obtained on the enemy forces Tagge. I've got some assets to acquire.

* * *

 **Yavin -IV**

Though he had seen it before Luke Skywalker was still unnerved by the sheer size of the Station before him. But he was still excited. Here he would finally take his first real shot at the empire, he would avenge Aunt Beru, Uncle Owen and Old Ben Kenobi.

"Unlock combat spoilers" Red leader's order crackled through the radio. With a flick of a switch the wings of the X-wing split into the characteristic cross of their combat profile. Falling in with gold and red teams Luke gritted his teeth. There would be no more running.

"That's odd, where are the TIEs?" Red 3 asked. Luke noticed too. it seemed odd that they weren't being swarmed by the ubiquitous fighters.

Suddenly the massive station disappeared before the bewildered rebel fleet's eyes.

""Hey where'd they go?" Luke asked into the comms.

"No idea but lets not throw this chance away. Looks like they jumped to hyperspace. We've got to evacuate the Yavin base now before they come back."

Dejectedly Luke pulled in with the rest of the fleet as they retreated to the evacuating base.

* * *

4 Weeks Later - Hoth system

"Well somethings crawled into the Empires ass that's for sure" The informant reported through the holonet.

"What do you mean?" Mon Mothma questioned.

"They've been recalling naval assets from all across the empire and gathering them at the shipyards of Ord Trasi. They must have thousands of capital ships there in addition to the Death Star. Progress has primarily been slowed since they've been deploying heavy garrisons all over the empire where the naval assets have been taken from. The other odd thing is that there's almost nothing on what they're doing there. Seems very odd that they'd need almost a quarter of their entire navy in addition to the Star for anything. Also it seems like they've all but given up many of the worlds lacking significant imperial assents that cannot be relocated. Things like shipyards, mining colonies etc... They've even abandoned some agricultural worlds."

"That doesn't make any sense. They're already unpopular enough in the outer rim. What could they need all those ships for."

"Something tells me they intend to make whatever it is quick and rush the _glorious overseers_ " Mothma whinced "back to squatting on the uppity planets but they've tried to minimize the disruption while the fleets away." The informant concluded. Mothma curiosity was piqued. It seemd the empire wanted to maintain their control while the fleet was away. The heavy garrisons and lax guard on backwaters meant they were hoping for a brief action but could not be certain of it. Or maybe it was more bait to lure out the rebels.

Mothma cut the communication before contacting the guards outside her office. "Make sure he's disarmed and bring him in."

After a brief delay the door opened and the rebel guards approached behind their charge. He was a tall and handsome young man with reddish blond hair and blue eyes that stood out heavily from his dark imperial pilot uniform.

Mothma gestured to an empty chair and he obliged, with the 2 guards coming up to flank each side.

"Whats your name and rank."

He stiffened before obliging. "Thane Kyrell. Former Lieutenant and pilot of the 8201st TIE squadron, based on the Death Star."

"Relax Thane." Mothma chided gently. "I apologise for the lack of manners we have shown you earlier but we can't be too careful. Now you have been described as being desperate to reach a Rebel leader claiming to have important information on The Death Star and the unusual imperial ship movements as of late.

Thane nodded. "I understand. It all started shortly after the... incident at Alderaan. My squadron was ordered to join a subjugation fleet to scout out the rebel base at Dantooine." In her mind Mothma let out a sigh of relief. At least the Empire still had trouble tracking them. "

"I was already planning my escape at that point but there wasn't much I could do." Thane continued "Anyway as we approached the system something dragged the fleet out of hyperspace minutes before arrival. We were stranded a few years from Dantooine via sublight though we could return the way we came in hyperspace apparently. At first we thought it was a captured interdictor but it let us go after only 5 minutes. Anyway we arrived at the system and found a massive armada in orbit around Dantooine. I didn't see any of the ships but given we were ordered immediately to prep for hyperspace jump it must have been a massive fleet. Before we could make the jump out however we were hit by a heavy enemy salvo. From what I understand it was a mix of ordinance and boarding craft. Then they emerged."

Mothma rose an eyebrow. "They?"

Thane stiffened. I don't know what they were. Never seen anything like them in my life. Looked like a cross between a lizard and an insect. I saw 2 types. A little one that was released in massive numbers and a small number of 9 foot tall creatures that seemed to be the handlers or soldiers. Managed to escape that bunch but as I got to a corridor one of the smaller ones came through a vent and landed on my back. Made a mess of my right side before a Stormtrooper shot him off me and dragged me to medical."

Mothma listened silently as the former TIE pilot recalled the days of heightened alert and security before finally returning to Imperial space.

"So I was moved from the _Lawbringer_ to the Death Stars medical facilities for about a week before I was able to move around again but I was unable to pilot. The I was ordered to the surface of Ord Trasi to finish my recovery since the Star would be undertaking a combat mission and they wanted only active service personnel on board. Once on the planet I managed to sneak into a cargo hold of an empty freighter with some snacks and water that took me to Horuz. Managed to blunder into a rebel cell right after I left the freighter and here I am. Thane concluded.

"Do you think these mystery attackers would be receptive to our cause?" Mothma asked.

Thane shook his head. "No idea. the ones I saw didn't even attempt to communicate and the majority of the boarders were more like a swarm of dumb beasts then sentient life. They're damn brutal though. Some were saying that they had bought into rebel propaganda and that's why they didn't communicate but i'm not so sure."

"Well I can assure you we haven't made such an alliance with any such species before. Though it might be worthwhile to try and at least negotiate with them." Mothma stated

Thane flinched at this but nodded. "I've healed enough to resume piloting and I would like to formally request permission to join the Rebel Alliance. I saw what they did to Alderaan and what they are enforcing throughout the galaxy. I cannot stand by after devoting my misguided life to those monsters."

"Agreed." Mothma promptly stated. "That is IF you can impress Antilles. He'll meet you in Hanger 4 tomorrow. You can return to your quarters and I'll disable the lock on your door. Further security clearance will be decided on later."

Thane nodded and stood to leave the room. The guards were about to follow before Mothma waved them down. "Don't worry about that one. His heart has always been in the right place. I can tell. And now it looks like his head is as well. Now then. Lets get a ship to Dantooine. We need to contact this mystery fleet."

* * *

Tarkin glanced at the holoslate that displayed the massive armada at his disposal. Not even the most cowardly Jawa would be afraid of anything with a fleet like this. Though the Data on the unknowns was still frustratingly scant sheer firepower would solve most of the problems. He had acquired 30 Mandator IIs, both of the massive Assertors and almost 6000 Imperial Star destroyers, who were to provide cordon and escort to the big dreadnoughts and the Death Star.

But manoeuvring such an massive fleet within formation was ungainly to say the least. Even the pre-jump calculations took hours in order to maintain formation upon arrival. The crew were just finishing the final checks now.

"Sir were go for hyperspace jump" The officer reported to Tarkin

"Engage" Tarkin replied.

In an instant the massive fleet disappeared into hyperspace. It would be a brief journey of only a few hours before combat, every second of which spent double checking systems and stationing damage control teams for rapid response. As the arrival counter ticked down Tarkin took his place at the helm of the Death Star.

3...

2...

1...

The blue of hyperspace was abruptly replaced with the blackness of space framing a mostly brown and green planet...

Tarkin blinked. Dantooine was all but unrecognisable. Much of the vast verdant forests and lush golden plains had been cleared down to rounded grey bedrock, the polar ice deposits had greatly receded, and the oceans were now a sickly snot green hue. In orbit around the world were the myriad of chitinous aberrations, they appeared to be breaking from orbit and speeding towards the enemy fleet. Now he understood Tagge's fear. The enemy truly did have a massive fleet of vessels far larger then a standard star destroyer.

"I see what the inquisitor meant by the force being strong with them" Vader growled from behind Tarkin.

"Well you better not be joining him in diapers Vader. I'm beginning to agree with Motti more and more by the day regarding how I should deal with you lot." Tarkin snapped.

"...No" Vader stated, though with a hard edge to his voice. "They are strong, but they will fall nonetheless."

"Hmph" The Grand Moff turned back to the display. "This is Tarkin to the fleet. You may fire when ready"

Even thought he enemy was at extreme range numerous turbolaser blasts surged towards the enemy fleet. The approaching forms displayed deceptive agility in addition to speed as they twisted around the bulk of the incoming fire. Suddenly a large salvo of massive green projectiles formed in front of the approaching fleet and streaked into the outer picket ships. The outermost layer simply ceased to exist under the concentrated fire with scattered hits on inner layers. The unknowns had scored first blood.

"Damn it! Target the lead elements capital vessels and fire!" Tarking ordered the gunner.

"Which ones the lead capital?" The bewildered gunner asked.

"The largest ones. Take the bastardised Acclimators out. Keep the power buildup low enough for increased rate of fire."

"Aye sir". The familiar hum of the charging weapons filled the station as the green lasers converged.

The shot streaked into the dense enemy formation leaving a massive core of vaporised ships in its wake with near misses resulting in a white hot glow and spiralling hulks.

Abruptly the enemy fleet changed orientation with such speed and precision the Tarkin was left speechless. What was originally a tight spearhead charging the fleet abruptly broke up into a loose formation that seemed more intent on flanking the fleet with scarcely any time for the countless warnings and course corrections that would plague a similar Imperial maneuver. The Turbolaser fire had become overwhelming and seemed to outshine the sun with the shadow of thousands of TIEs creating the illusion of dark stars. Curiously the enemy fleet did not launch any fighters aside from strange tight knit formations that closely shadowed the main vessels. But to Tarkins surprise the heavy turbolaser fire only had a limited impact with far fewer vessel disabled then would have been preferred.

Another enemy salvo wiped out hundred of Destroyers and many vessels were now reporting boarding vessels. Some reports also declared the enemy had Ion weapons mixed in with the boarding pods.

"Increase fire. Get the TIEs on the lead elements" Tarkin roared.

As the TIES screamed toward the lead vessels the space around them suddenly became filled with a hail of point defence fire. The first wave of the lightly armoured were completely wiped out by the most horrifyingly well managed point defence the Pilots had ever seen. Further waves simply broke off but not without suffering appalling casualties.

"Sir those things have too much Point defence for the TIES to even get close enough to shoot at them. We're redirecting them to projectile intercept." A report chimed.

Before Tarkin could respond the Death star fired again. Once more several ships had been destroyed but it was far fewer then the initial fire with the dispersed fleet.

Suddenly an alarm came from Death Stars Turbolaser gunners. "Sir theres a formation of enemy vessels at our 6 o'clock. Lots of big bastards in they're. They're right on top of us!"

"Damn it, get the _Acclimator, Wrath,_ and their escort on it! And why didn't the sensors pick them up?" Tagge roared.

"Too late. They're focused on us!'

Suddenly a slight impact rattled on the bridge.

"about 50 of the bastards just rammed the Star. they had some sort of heavy electrical discharge in the hulls that brought down the local shield emitter." The _Wrath's_ Captain reported. Suddenly the internal security console buzzed to life. The countless reports of boarders and static overwhelmed the crewman.

Tarkin turned to Vader. "Destroy the boarders."

"As you wish." Vader turned and departed the bridge.

Turning back to the battle the enemy fleet had changed formation and tactics yet again. They had partially enveloped the fleet and now they were all rushing headlong towards nearby ships. To Tarkin's shock they only fired weapons peacemeal with massive bone prows opening like maws ans they approached the fleet elements.

And in an instant reports flooded the comms, battle plan, and plain old order and discipline degenerated to unequalled chaos.


End file.
